Starcraft magistrate to Commander
by KingdomCody
Summary: Ever wonder what the Magistrate was doing between mission, during the missions, or even after the Rebel Yell campaign of Starcraft 1? look no further! Follow the Magistrate on his journey not only through the entirety of Starcraft 1, but also Starcraft 2!
1. Chapter 1

**Magistrate to Commander:**

 **Chapter 1: Mar Sara**

Someone tell me how getting drunk and waking up in another solar system in an officer's uniform doesn't disqualify me for governorship over an entire world? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth I guess.

I watch from a safe distance as the soldiers assigned to me for this exercise shoot at the targets. "Tell them to hold their fire." Faux tells me.

"Hold your fire." Immediately the sixteen marines stop firing, guns poised still. I switch off the mic. "Very responsive."

"Their lives depend on how fast they react." Faux checks the exercise off on his list. "Final exam, show me what you've learned."

"Hold a perimeter around the base, ten meter spread." I say into the mic… and then turn it on and repeat my order, my cheeks flush red as Faux chuckles under his breath.

The marines spread out. "Clear."

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Maintain perimeter." I open coms to the command center "Adjutant."

"Yes, Magistrate?"

"Deploy a few more SCV's."

"Current Supply depot storage insufficient for extras."

"Take one of the SCV's and have em build another next to the other supply depot."

"Yes, Magistrate."

"Oh and Adjutant?"

"Yes, Magistrate?"

"Prepare more SCV's for when it finishes."

"Yes, Magistrate."

I turn off the coms. "Am I forgetting anything?"

Faux just grins and stays silent.

"Adjutant, what are the current objectives?"

"Collect Minerals, collect vespine, construct three supply depots."

"Progress?"

"Minerals have been collected, a second supply depot is under construction and no vespine has been collected."

"Take two more scv's and have one build the third Supply depot and the other a refinery."

I watch in the distance as the SCV's break off from the mineral field to perform orders.

"Warning, alien life form detected."

"Come again?"

"Alien life form detected."

"Look sharp, looks like we're not alone out here."

"Find something?" Faux asks.

"Aliens, any movement Adjutant?"

"Five hundred meters to your southwest, slowly approaching."

"How many?"

"Four bio signatures."

"I thought you said there wasn't anything out here?" I turn to Faux.

"There isn't, take care of it Magistrate."

"That's not part of the training."

"It is now, Magistrate Maxton."

I let out a sigh. "Fine, I'll do your job for you."

"I'm more than happy to let you sift through the paperwork!"

"Hah! You wish." I turn my attention to the marines in front of me. "See anything men?"

"Off in the distance."

"I'm coming up, I want to see what these things are."

"That's dangerous Magistrate."

"I'm being put in charge of Mar Sara's defenses aren't I?" I'm already walking.

"Sir." One of the marines greets me.

"Private." Faux didn't follow me.

"Isn't this against Confederate regulations?"

"I wasn't aware that officer regulations were taught in basic training." I joke.

"Sir."

"None that I know of, just that it's dangerous."

"They sped up!" One of the marines calls out.

"What are you waiting for? Kill them!" I say into my ear piece.

The marines open fire and I'm glad that my ear piece also acts as a dampener, no going deaf today.

The last creature managed to get within spitting distance before sliding to a stop. "Is that all of them?" I rub the ear closest to the marine out of habit.

"As far as I can see, sir."

"Walk with me, I need a bodyguard." I approach the carcass.

"Mother mercy, what is that?" The marine says into his ear piece as we get closer. The rest of the marines approach, talking amongst themselves.

"I don't know, but we have a carcass and the confederates have scientists. Make sure it's dead and bring it back to the command center."

Another bullet goes into the skull of the alien and two marines haul it back. "The rest of you, back to your posts and keep your eyes peeled, there might be more."

"Construction complete."

"Which one?"

"The Supply Depot and the Refinery."

"Send a few SCV's to the refinery, I think we're done here… right Faux?"

"Indeed, I'll finish my report and send it up for review." Faux nods. "You can relax and have a drink."

I let out a laugh. "I haven't had a drink since I put this uniform on." Yup, I got to keep the uniform I woke up in and no way am I going to wake up in someone else's, again.

What was that? The command center closes it's ramp behind me. Officers stay in the command centers while the soldiers stay in the barracks. That thing was as big as I am, if not bigger.

I was told that I would be taking charge of mar Sara's defenses but against that? It didn't seem that dangerous at a range, maybe it'll be a cake walk and I'm overthinking things, anyways I leave tomorrow for Mar Sara. "Time until departure?"

"Twelve hours." The command center's adjutant answers dutifully.

Enough time to take a shower, do the last bit of paperwork, and then if I'm lucky pack what few belongings I can. "Adjutant, I want someone autopsying the corpse that was brought in."

"Already underway."

"Give them priority, if they need anything make sure they get it."

"Yes Magistrate."

"Keep me informed of any developments."

"Yes, Magistrate."

First thing's first, take a shower.

"You look exhausted." George, captain of the Orion, greets me.

"Lots of paperwork." I rub the bags under my eyes while shaking the captain's hand.

"You're just transfering from a training base to Mar Sara."

"It was a lot of paperwork, and I'm afraid I'm not allowed to discuss most of it."

"What can you discuss?" The giant door closes behind us, locking us into the Battle Cruiser.

"Taxes."

"That's it?"

"Yup."

"The autopsy report has been compressed, compiled and transferred to your personal Adjutant." The Training base Adjutant tells me.

"Thank you, don't burn the place down while I'm gone." George is looking at me expectantly. "A report from the base, something you'd want to see as well."

"Well then, let's get you to the bridge so we can review it, shall we?"

My personal Adjutant was left in my quarters, which I had to find first before going to the bridge. The whole endeavor took roughly an hour. "Hello, Magistrate." The holographic display of the adjutant appears.

"You have an autopsy report for me?"

"Yes Magistrate, The foreign entity-"

"Hold up, can you display on the holo?"

"Permission required."

"This is Commander George Lagoth, and I grant authorization."

The holo display has a giant 'access granted' on it, and then a holo of the creature appears as a still image. "The foreign entity has been nicknamed the 'Xenoling' by the scientists, the subjects claws and bladed appendages are strong enough to puncture marine armor, it doesn't require oxygen or H2O to survive."

"Looks like it was made to kill." George notes. "You saw this on the platform?"

"Yeah, nobody knew they were there… so how did they?"

"It's blood isn't acidic and contains high amounts of iron."

"Have we taken off yet?" I ask george.

"If we haven't we should be." He looks at the pilots.

"We're lifting off now."

"Anything else adjutant?"

"Xenoling corpse reacts to psionic waves, potential psionic link and ability to sense psionic creatures."

"That's… disconcerting."

"Hopefully I'll continue getting reports, but I get the feeling that this is all I'm getting." I rub the back of my head.

"What're you going to do now, Magistrate?" George wonders.

"Get something to eat, I'm starving."

"I'm afraid that we won't have anything like what you're used to, but our chefs know what they're doing." George says with a smile.

"I'll be the judge of that." I scoff.

I'll miss the quiet of the dropship, of the transport truck that took me from the drop site to the command center. It was a long trip and waiting for me is a deactive Adjutant, I've just got to plug my personal one in like so and-

"Adjutant 20498787-b assistant transfer complete, how may I help you today Magistrate?"

"Keep an eye on things while I unpack, oh and compile a report, I don't want to sit around reading all day… I've done enough of that to last a lifetime."

"Yes, Magistrate."

And this was the last time I got to have peace and quiet. Mar Sara is a quiet place, nothing happens there, your job is pretty much just retirement. Yeah right, they knew what they were sending me to.

I'm lucky that Chau Sara was destroyed first and not Mar Sara. "Okay Adjutant, anything happen while I was at Joeyray's bar's grand opening?"

"Adjutant online. Good evening Magistrate, I'll fill you in on what's been happening. Confederate traffic has increased substantially in the system due to the recent Protoss destruction of the Chau Sara colony. The Confederates have tightened security on all outlining systems, and it's likely that this colony will be locked down as well."

"Of course, of course they'd be breathing down my neck due to something I had no control over." I sigh sarcastically. "Anything else?"

"An encrypted Confederate transmission came for you while you were out."

"Play it."

"Replaying transmission."

"Greeting magistrate." Edmund Duke. "I'm General Edmund Duke of the Confederate security forces. Alpha squadron. The Confederacy has Guaranteed this entire planet-"

"Of course they would." I let out a sigh.

"And we'll proceed with the lock-down within forty eight hours, you are to relocate your core colonists to the outlying wastelands-"

"And I suppose that my compliance isn't a factor?"

"Now I know there won't be any problems with these new arrangements."

"Transmission ended."

I scratch my beard. "Adjutant, contact the Marshal and ask him for some help would you?"

"Yes Magistrate."

Looks like I've got to pack, again. "Sargeant?" I tap my ear piece.

"Yes sir?"

"We have orders, Mar Sara's being placed under Lockdown in forty eight hours, we're to evacuate core colonists to the wasteland, understood?"

"Yes sir, when do you want to start?"

"Hmm…. Let the colonists know and give them a few hours to pack what they can, it's going to be a long ride."

"Yes sir, men we have orders!" I cut off the transmission, good thing I haven't gotten around to unpacking yet. Hopefully the truck I rode in on is still here.

"The Local Marshal, James Raynor, has agreed to meet your personal en route and escort them to the new wasteland site." The Adjutant tells me from it's suitcase.

"Excellent, Keep your eyes peeled and keep moving!"

"Magistrate?" One of the SCV's floats next to the transport truck.

"Yes Parker?"

"Shouldn't we be evacuating Mar Sara with what happened to Chau Sara?"

"I don't make the rules Parker, I only follow them." I sigh.

"But-"

"I don't know Parker, do your job, I'll do mine, and I'll make sure we all get out of this alive."

"Yes sir." He's troubled, but he'll accept my answer, there's no alternative.

"I can't believe we're going to the wasteland, these Confederates think they can push anyone around." The driver complains.

"Uh."

"Not you Magistrate!" He hastily rushes to apologize. "You're the only decent Confederate I've met, never seen one of you at a bar before."

"I was just there as a formality, I didn't do any drinking."

"Sure you didn't."

"I didn't!"

A vulture comes careening off in the distance, then a crackle comes onto the com. "Howdy boys, I'm jim Raynor, marshal round these parts.

"Contact!" One of the marines shouts, and the gunfire starts.

The Vulture passes and one of the Xenolings charging the convoy explode as a grenade hits it. "I appreciate the assistance, Marshal." I say with a forced grin as I watch several Xenolings attempt to reach the convoy only to be mowed down by marines on machine gun emplacements on some of the trucks.

"You must be the Magistrate, saw you at Joey's yesterday, what's up?"

"Confederates are placing Mar Sara under lock-down, shouldn't last too long however."

"We're nearing the site your adjutant sent me the coordinance of, so I took the liberty of scouting and setting up a command center for you."

"Looks like I owe you a command center and a favor, Marshal." I let out a laugh.

"Don't sweat it, let's get these people somewhere safe."

The site comes into view, a supply depot and a command center close to a mineral cluster, that's another thing I owe the marshal. "SCV's I want a barracks for the soldiers, another supply depot for our equipment, and some homes for the colonists."

"Roger."

"Hey who's building what?"

"I got the supply depot."

"No way I'm letting you have first dibs on SCV storage."

"He's right, the lot of you on Mineral duty, I'm making the supply depot."

"Chief!"

I could listen to them bicker for a long time, but only the lead engineer has an actual radio, the others have local coms so it wasn't an option as they leave range. "I want a perimeter set up watching for more of those Xenolings."

I head for the command center to unpack for the third time in seven galactic days, at least it's easy to plug the Adjutant into the command center.

"Adjutant online, Marshal james Raynor on approach to the command center."

"Let him in."

I watch on the cameras as the main ramp opens and Raynor rides into the building, the ramp closes behind him.

Half a minute later Raynor steps into the command room. "Howdy Magistrate, now what the hell were those things?"

"Xenolings, as much as I know." I turn to the holo display. "Adjutant display the autopsy report."

A holographic Xenoling appears on the display. "A Xenoling?" Raynor places his hands on the display, examining the image.

"They're strong enough to break through marine armor and-"

"Alert, bio signatures detected approaching the site."

I tap my earpiece. "Marines we've got incoming, protect the colonists at all costs."

"Yes sir, you heard the boss, move, move!"

"The marines should be able to handle them, Adjutant how is ammunition manufacturing going?"

"Minerals are coming in now, command center's assembly matrix coming online."

"Looks like you're all set long as those minerals are round." Raynor nods approvingly. "Now, about these Xenolings."

"Yes, not only are they able to rip through Marine armor, but they also react to Psionics, what this means is a mystery."

"I'm going to help the men hold the line, how about you?"

"Can't, asthma."

"No kidding?"

I just nod sadly. "I'd be in a suit on the frontlines otherwise."

"I'll give these alien bastards one for you." Raynor promises.

I give him a grin. "I'd appreciate that." he leaves the room.

"Alright, what am I looking at?" I turn to the Holographic display.

"The Autopsy report."

I'm disappointed in myself. "The bio signatures on approach."

"Yes, Magistrate." the holograph changes into a representation of the surrounding area.

"Time to work my magic." I crack my knuckles as several dots appear. "A dozen signatures coming from the west, and a couple from the east. Also there's a large stationary biosignature to the north, keep some eyes to the north but defend the flanks."

Authors Notes: I can't help it, I love Starcraft. Grew up with it and always wondered: What happened to the Magistrate? You know the player character from the original Starcraft? He kinda vanished after you finished playing as him. I hope this wasn't unbearable to read, but this is something fun I wanted to make.


	2. Chapter 2

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 2: Mar Sara City**

"Incoming transmission."

"Patch it through."

"Hey What's up man?" Raynor appears on the screen.

"Marshal! Doing much better now that we've secured the wasteland."

"Provided you can sidestep anymore surprises from our confederate friends, and we can keep away from them critters, you should have an easy time."

"If I didn't stop drinking, I'd drink to that." I grin.

"Priority alert!" Spoke too soon. "Blackwater station under attack by unknown alien organisms. Distress beacon activated at 0658, alerting confederate headquarters on Tarsonis."

I rub my eyes. "Three… two… one."

"Standby for incoming transmission."

"Right on time." I sigh. I really don't want to evacuate the colonists again.

"We've already received the distress beacon from Blackwater, and we'll take care of it."

"General Duke, as Magistrate of Mar Sara I request full access to information on these creatures immediately to decide for myself the best course of action." They're hiding something.

"You just sit tight, you'll be notified if there's anything we think you need to know."

The general vanishes from the screen and I pound the desk in frustration.

"Listen, if we wait for confederate reinforcements, that station is dust. I'll head out now, do what I can. You send some militia and we'll save those folks." Raynor proposes.

"Are you sure? It would leave the men left here spread thin."

"Trust me."

"Alright, but I want records of everything you see over there, got it marshal?"

"Can do."

"Transmission finished."

"Patch me in to the sergeant."

"Sir?"

"We've got an active distress beacon at Blackwater and Raynors going to investigate. Take some men, some scv's and follow him, expect more of those creatures on the way."

"Yes sir."

"Stay in contact, I want to know what's going on there." I cut off the transmission. "Give me a camera that can see them leave."

The holoscreen changes, just in time for me to see Raynor's vulture speed out the front gate, followed shortly by marines in transport trucks with turrets. I watch them leave. "Good luck men." I manually kill the feed. "Adjutant, what's the status on the stationary alien?"

Several red dots appear on the holo screen. "I said the one."

"The Biosignatures are rapidly multiplying."

"And I just sent the sergeant out with Raynor, ETA until they reach Blackwater?"

"Five days days."

I rub my eyes. "How fast is the multiplication?"

"Average of three signatures every couple of minutes."

"Are they moving?"

"Not at first."

"Eggs or infants, how long does it take until they start moving?"

"Calculating."

I look at the increasing level of signatures and watch a few dots suddenly get bigger. "What's going on with that?" I point at the hologram.

"Unknown, growth rate exceeds any creature currently documented."

The Xenos can get rapidly larger, I put all of my weight onto the desk. I wish I wasn't so alone sometimes. This is a colony, not a military installation. "What military hardware can we produce?"

"Marines."

Figures. "If they were to launch an attack, how long would it take them to get here?"

"Calculating… With autopsy data available estimate is four days."

"If they came running now, and our boys continued onto Blackwater booked it back… they'd be two days late without any complications."

"Would you like to recall the militia?"

"No, those people are going to need soldiers to escort them here." Hopefully the militia don't stick around for drinks… And I just sent the Sargent out, leaving the colony with just me leading our security, way to go genius.

"How many marines do we have?"

"Twelve on the current rotation of guards, three rotations in total."

"I'm heading out, keep in touch and if anything happens keep me updated."

"Yes, Magistrate."

While I know that the air in the Command center is purified, nothing beats the outdoors, I think it's a psychological thing. I don't care.

"Ello Magistrate." Maverik, my lead engineer currently in an SCV, greets. "What brings you outside?" He places a crate of minerals on a conveyor belt next to the ramp.

"The air, mostly." I take a deep breath in, it really does feel better than the empty command center. "And some company, get out of that thing and walk with me, we need to talk."

He gives me a confused look. "Sir?"

"Don't worry, nobody's in trouble." I wait outside while the engineer gets out of his SCV.

"Something the matter, Magistrate?" Maverik asks, stepping out of the Supply Depot.

"A few things I need some counsel with." I crack my neck and a crick I didn't know I had goes away.

"Where too?"

"North, where the soldiers are." I gesture for the engineer to follow.

"Yes sir."

"Mister Simmons we have a bit of an issue."

He gives me a concerned look. "What's happening?"

"Oh, we've detected some Xeno's to our north, roughly a week out."

"How many?"

"It's not how many, it's that they're multiplying that has me concerned."

"They've found a home on our world?!"

"Keep it down, I'd rather not spook the colonists Chief."

"S-sorry, Magistrate."

"Now, I want to discuss defence with you, if you hadn't figured it out yet."

"Of course! What do you need me to do?"

"First let's take a look at the northern perimeter and see what we can do to reinforce it."

"While we don't have anything heavy, we do have some hardware you might enjoy."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, we got turrets, bunkers, and a few toys for the troops."

"Can we attach turrets to the bunkers?"

"I'd need to do a few adjustments to the blueprints, but it shouldn't be that difficult to stick a point defence turret or two on a neosteel bunker."

"Before I came here I was told there would be gas turrets protecting my estate in case of riots, can we make more and litter them around the wasteland?"

"And fill them with what, tear gas that might not work on these things?" maverik scoffs.

"I was thinking more along the lines of Vespine, stuff's toxic and highly flammable." Far to hazardous for commercial use, but too useful to neglect for military use.

"We only have the one geyser, sir."

I rub my chin. "Then we'll have to sprinkle them around selectively rather than haphazardly."

"Do you want them to burn?"

"I'd like an igniter, yes."

"Even if we do that, we can't possibly cover the entire wasteland."

"Hmmm… Can we build fortifications to funnel them in the general direction of where the gas traps are?"

"Just, how big do you want these fortifications?"

"Doesn't have to be enormous, just big enough that the Xeno's can't jump it, and thick enough that they can't claw through it."

"You want me, to wall off an entire colony?"

"I'm asking you to do your best, if you need more minerals-"

"It's not minerals I'm worried about, it's time."

"Just do your best, if you need anything I'll do my best to get it to you." I tap my ear piece. "Adjutant, give Lead Engineer Maverik Simmons your full support constructing colony defences, that includes terrain scans and tactical data."

"Yes, Magistrate."

"I'll trust your judgement, Simmons. Every bunker, every turret, every weapon placement, you get it." I pull my earpiece out and hand it to him, he'll need it more than I will. A direct line to the Adjutant will be crucial.

He wipes off the communicator and inserts it into his ear with only slight hesitation. "This is Maverik Simmons, the Magistrate just gave me his earpiece…. It wants a code."

"You piece of useless Junk."

Simmons gives me a look. "You piece of useless Junk." After a moment he rolls his eyes. "What about you?"

"I'll carry the suitcase the Adjutant came from around, it can wirelessly connect to the command center." I wave off his question. "Do your best to protect these people, chief."

"I won't let you down." He salutes. "I'll get the team together and we'll puzzle this out."

"Ask the adjutant where the most defensible locations are and work from there." I suggest.

"In the middle of a flat wasteland?"

"You'd be surprised at what you can't see… oh and make sure we can leave safely as well."

Several days pass, and with each one I find myself watching the Xeno's to the north closer and closer as each one passes, it just keeps multiplying and growing in mass.

"Incoming transmission from Blackwater station." The Adjutant pipes up.

"About time, patch it through." I settle down in one of the many chairs in the command room. The Sergeant told me to expect a transmission shortly.

The Marshal appears on the screen and I let out a breath of relief. "Marshal." I raise a glass of water in congradulations.

"Howdy Magistrate, we've encountered quite a few of those critters on the way here, but we managed to get to Blackwater Station's Command Center."

"Something wrong?"

There is a crackle in the transmission. "On the way we encountered… I'm not sure what the hell it was, but it was alive and enormous."

I lean closer. "Describe it as well as you can."

"It was this huge structure that was oozing purple goo all over the place, it felt as if the ground were alive." Raynor shivers. "The people here are shaken up and terrified, but we should be able to get them out of here."

"I'm going to have to ask you to bring those people here asap, evacuate the station while you still can."

"What's happened?"

"Before you left the sensors picked up a signature that settled down several clicks north of our base and grew in size."

"Have you gotten any visual confirmation?"

"Afraid not, but this is where shit gets real, it multiplied over the time you were gone and is now a sizable… hive of activity." I struggle to find the right word.

"Some of the people here've told me there's more structures nearby, if we destroy them while getting these folks out of here, they might have a chance to reach you."

"Do it, we're shoring up our defences but we're spread too thin as is, if anywhere comes under attack I'm afraid we won't be able to put the numbers necessary to repel them."

"These boys have Firebats, they should make things easier."

"That reminds me, tap into the Command Center's fabrication matrix before you leave and copy the blueprints onto a disk, this command center only has plans for weapons to quell a riot, not an invasion."

"Gotcha, I'll keep you posted, you work on keeping those people safe, and possibly find a way off this rock."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Transmission finished."

"How much of that did you hear, Simmons?"

"All of it, I'm afraid."

"Warning, Xeno bio signatures have departed from the designation: hive and are on approach." The hive appears on the holo- oh, oh no, where did all of them come from!?

"Simmons."

"Y-yes Magistrate?" He's clearly terrified.

"Forget previous orders, we're evacuating as soon as possible." It's a sea of red, heading this way.

"ETA four days." The adjutant tells us.

"I'm on it!" Simmons cuts his transmission.

"Activate the speakers around the camp."

"Speakers active."

"People of Mar Sara, I know that we planned to stay here until the lockdown has lifted, but that's no longer possible, there's a wave of Xenolings coming this way and if you haven't been counting our standing troops over the past few days, it's thirty six.

"We have to leave, now. Hopefully you haven't unpacked anything because we're leaving immediately, the faster we get moving the more distance we'll put between ourselves and those things."

"We're going back to Mar Sara city." Quarantine or not there's no way we're holding this position, we'd need actual fortifications already set up.

Simmons is back. "You want us to go towards the Xenolings!?"

I switch off the speaker system. "Adjutant I want the alarms blaring, just in case if anyone's asleep or didn't hear the announcement."

And now I can barely hear myself think over the echo. "We'll be going towards them for an hour or so before going west, there are a number of bridges between us and Mar Sara city, choke points for traps."

"Of course! Load up boys we're getting out of here!" He cuts his transmission again.

"Open a channel to Blackwater."

"Starting transmission transmission."

"Marshal, those things are coming for us, it's an ocean of death running this way.

"We're evacuating to Mar Sara City, if you get this I want you to loop around to the other settlements, get them and as many as you can to Mar Sara city, I'm not going to wait and watch my people be butchered around me while I wait in the safety of Mar Sara City."

I'd do it myself, but we're already stretched thin as is. "End transmission."

"Transmission finished."

"Once we leave the base, deactivate the Command Center." I say walking out of the room with the suitcase, the lights turning off for the last time.

I've spent a lot of the past few weeks in a vehicle going from one place to the next. Hopefully the fortifications at Mar Sara City will be enough to make a stand long enough for help to arrive and get us off this rock… Is that a battle cruiser?

Emerging from the clouds is a massive warship bearing the confederate sigil, Alpha squadron has arrived. The rest of the convoy has spotted the Battlecruiser and are letting out cheers and praise.

I pop open the Adjutant's briefcase."Adjutant, scan the airwaves for any transmissions."

"Transmission intercepted."

"Marshal Raynor, by destroying a vital confederate installation you and your men have violated standing colonial law, as of right now you are all under arrest, I suggest you throw down your weapons and come peaceably."

I'm in shock, but Raynor's not taking this sitting down. "Are you out of your mind? If we hadn't burned that damned factory the entire colony could have been overrun! Maybe if you hadn't taken your sweet time in getting here-"

"Now I asked you nicely the first time boy, I didn't come here to talk with you, now throw down them weapons." He's not here to help the colonists, he's here to arrest marshal James Raynor for doing his job. They're content with watching us die.

"Guess you wouldn't be a confederate if you weren't a complete pain in the ass."

"Magistrate-" The Adjutant's voice catches me off guard. "A video file has been transferred over the transmission, downloading for later review."

The Adjutant wouldn't have transmitted what it said, but if I say anything, even to mute myself, it would be on the transmission and I don't want to get yelled at by a battlecruiser for going back on orders. "Transmission lost."

"Show me the video file."

The holographic projector kicks on and I can see through the eyes of a marine. "What did they do to the command center?" Sargent Graves, the camera is facing a command center with growing tumors on and in it. I was unprepared to see it and nearly lost my dinner.

The Norad two's hangar opens and dropships emerge, heading for the ground, they can't ignore us, I did everything they asked me to do without complaining to the best of my abilities, this isn't fair! It takes me a few tries to activate my earpiece, and my voice is shaking. "They're not here to help us, I'm afraid."

Almost immediately the cheers turn into shouts of dismay and denial filled with profanity. The video ends once the command center is destroyed and the Norad Two appears in the sky, how did he know to send it to me immediately?

Regardless I have proof of their inaction and a slight chance of getting the confederates to evac us. Unfortunately I'm only capable of receiving transmissions and not send them, I'll need to be at Mar Sara city to send an outgoing one. We're close but not close enough. "When I plug you into the Mar Sara City manor I want you to copy the video file over."

"Yes, magistrate."

Raynor won't be able to go to the other settlements, i don't know if they'll arrest just Raynor or all the marines I gave him, as well as the soldiers at Blackwater. That is more than half of my standing forces, gone.

I never turned off my transmission to the rest of the convoy. "Quiet everyone, we need to double time it to Mar Sara city before the Xenos catch up to us, we should be there tomorrow at the latest.

"Please don't make thing harder on the rest of us, I know you're all angry, believe me I am as well, but we need to rely on each other to get through this."

There is a knock at the window, an angry colonist is staring at me. I open it a crack. "Can I-"

"I volunteer, give me a rifle and we'll show these Confederate bastards that we don't need them, we can take care of ourselves!"

My earpiece transmitted all of that, and cheers start up once again around the convoy as more people shout that they'll volunteer as well. "We don't have any extra suits and most of our weapons are designed for marine use, but once we can manufacture more I'd be more than willing to accept volunteers." My heart swells with pride, it appears that our soldier shortage won't be as bad as I initially thought.

This time I turn off my ear piece. "Thank you for that." I roll the window down the rest of the way and shake his hand. "I think I can finally get some sleep with the amount of stress that helped me with."

He swells with pride. "Thank you, Magistrate."

"Let's keep moving." I roll the window up and rub the bags under my eyes.

"Magistrate?" A marine asks shaking my shoulder, making me wake with a start.

"How long was I asleep?" I rub my eyes.

"Approximately six hours." The Adjutant I forgot to shut off answers.

"We're at the city."

I stretch. "Thank you, you're promoted."

"What?"

"Hello Corporal… what's your name?"

"Johnson."

"Corporal Johnson." I roll the name off of my tongue. "I want a perimeter set up at the entry points, if it's human let it through, if not kill it."

"Y-yes sir!" He salutes.

"You two." I point at the two marines assigned to be my guards. "Make sure everyone's aware of Johnson's promotion, okay?" I finish with a yawn.

They salute, as sporadic as the promotion was, I desperately need someone else to manage the frontlines while I take care of the colonists. "Yes sir." The soldiers turn towards Johnson and salute the new corporal.

"Oh, and go easy on him, he doesn't have the appropriate training… yet." Another thing I'll have to take care of, hopefully it's not as different as the live fire training I underwent. "Don't withhold information, don't undermine him, yada yada." I let out another yawn. Can't sleep yet, I have things to do.

I turn to the driver. "Where are we?"

"By the supply depots, magistrate."

That's not far from the manor, I can walk it and hopefully wake up enough that I don't fall asleep again.

Time to file a complaint with Edmund Duke.

Author's Notes: And another one done, I had two other plans for this chapter (one of which being more than double in length of this one, the other being to delay getting to Mar Sara city for a few chapters) but decided against it, as it would be a whole lot of nothing going on or two much going on for a measly chapter two (Why is mission three an extraction against unstoppable odds?) Anyways I hope you enjoyed, and as I've been told the Magistrate in SC1 stories have been cropping up recently, which confuses me… I'd thought they'd be out a lot earlier, probably when WOL came out, but regardless I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story!


	3. Chapter 3

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 3: Mar Sara No More**

"Adjutant online." The manor lights flicker to life as I plug the Adjutant in, I didn't turn them on myself just to be sure I plugged her in right. "Sensors are detecting increased Xeno activity surrounding the city, eta for attack is five minutes."

"Looks like we can't run anymore." My heart sinks.

"I'm afraid so, Magistrate."

The despair in my heart turns into righteous judgement. "Open a Transmission to the Norad Two."

"Transmission open." No greetings, I'll leave a message then.

"Edmund Duke, I am aware that you've taken Marshal James Raynor under arrest due to the destruction of a 'key confederate installation' and I know that it is law breaking, but I have proof that it was necessary for the survival of the Mar Sara colonies- send video file- and as such I request that Raynor and the colonial militia you've taken prisoner be released so they can continue to do their jobs: Keeping people safe, These Xenos aren't going to stop until the planet is consumed and as part of colonial law three dash two 'any nearby active colonial forces must come to the aid of a colony under assault', if your regulations matter so much to you, then follow all of them, end transmission."

"Transmission finished."

I take a deep breath, that's part one done. "Adjutant open a transmission to all standing settlements."

"Beginning transmission... Transmission open."

"People of Mar Sara this is your Magistrate, I'm initiating a code red evacuation on all settlements, pack your things and make your way to Mar Sara city.

"Alien life forms are surrounding the city and slaughtering all they can around us, if you can reach us we will make sure you get inside of the city, all standing militia that aren't at any settlements, make your way to the closest settlement and escort them to Mar Sara city.

"If we're going to survive this we'll need every man, woman and child working together to see the end of the month, If you manage to get here I'll have Evac off world waiting for you." I gulp. "We will hold, and we will be praying for the safety of all migrating colonists, end transmission."

"Transmission finished."

All that's left is to hope that Duke will evac us, he has to, colonial law says he has to. "Open a channel to the engineering bay."

"Channel open." Immediately I can hear machinery and the chatter of overworked engineers.

"Simmons are you there?"

"We- what- you?" I can barely hear him over the noise.

"What?" I yell.

Simmons yells something and the room quiets down a tad. "We heard the transmission, what do you need?"

"Remember what we talked about at the wasteland?"

"We already have turret parts being built now, it'll be a lot faster this way than with a clunky SCV."

"Those SCV's can carry more than you ever will."

"But outside of buildings can't build for shit, have you tried making circuit boards with an ion cutter?!"

"Fair point, I want you to resume work on what we discussed, oh and please cooperate with Corporal Johnson, okay?"

"I thought sargent Graves was the only military leadership you had here?"

"Not anymore… speaking of which, Adjutant give the new Corporal the Sargent's old permissions."

"This is breaking military protocol." The Adjutant protests.

"Temporarily, desperate times."

"Understood, Leslie Johnson's military file has been updated: Corporal, temporarily sargent."

"Simmons, this is the most important thing you can do, understood?"

"I hear ya, need anything else?"

"Nope, not yet anyways."

"Get some sleep Magistrate, you sound like you need it."

"I might do that, take care Simmons. Close channel."

"Channel closed."

"Wake me up if anything new happens, if Johnson asks why he's temporarily a sargent tell him it's because he's the highest ranking member of the militia at Mar Sara City currently."

"Yes, Magistrate."

I leave the Adjutant core without the suitcase and head for my personal quarters, hopefully the Xenos understand that I need some sleep, not more stress.

"Incoming transmission."

"I'm up!" I throw the blankets off of my bed and jump towards the holo desk in my quarters. I didn't bother changing out of my uniform, I'll need to get it washed at some point though. "Patch it through."

"Com-link established."

I'm actually thrilled when I see Duke's face appear on the hologram. "I got your message Magistrate, and frankly I don't care what you have to say about Confederate regulations."

"Does that mean that I won't be getting any support-"

"You damn fringe world Yokels are all alike, don't know where your loyalties lie."

"Duke, as part of standing colonial law you are required, by law, to come to the aid of Mar Sara, and I have provided you proof that Raynor and my men didn't break colonial law on a whim, so get your ass down here!"

"Y'all have a real good day now, y'hear?"

"You can't inforce one law and ignore the other!"

"Transmission ended."

"DUUUUUUKE!" I pound my fists on the desk and close my eyes. "Adjutant…"

"Yes, Magistrate?"

"Activate a distress beacon containing the following message: This is Maxton Dirge, Magistrate of Mar Sara, anyone who can hear this please come help us, we're surrounded by alien life-forms and they're multiplying, it won't be long until we're overrun and the confederates have abandoned us, we need an evac offworld for the sake of the people. I'm willing to do anything."

"Distress beacon active at 1220." How did things go south so quickly? Was this intentional, as a way of getting rid of the drunk who somehow got across solar systems and into another officer's uniform who stained the reputation of the governing body?

"Give me a daily update on the status of the evacing settlements, and alert me immediately if we get an answer from the distress beacon."

"Yes, Magistrate."

I stand, and silently walk away. "Oh and Adjutant… Give Corporal Johnson General status."

"Johnson's record states that he is missing officer training, service time, and experience necessary for the position of General, as well as you lacking the authority to give such a promotion." The Adjutant states.

"Override: You useless piece of junk." I tell it.

"Override enabled." I spent so much time and every favor I gained from the academy changing the adjutant's override, glad to see that it paid off.

"Lose Confederacy status."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Confederacy status lost, promoting Corporal Leslie johnson to General, providing permissions."

"Tell the general to meet me at the academy, I'm going to try and get him the training he needs." I close the door while the Adjutant figures itself out. If it needs to contact me I still have the earpiece.

"Confederate forces have been spotted roaming Mar Sara, Three settlements have managed to evacuate and have started their trek towards Mar Sara City."

"Keep an eye on the Confederate forces."

"Yes Magistrate."

"The militia of White rock have evacuated the nearby settlement and are preparing to set out from their base, unfortunately Confederate forces are en route."

"White Rock's militia and colonists have been arrested by confederate forces, movement has suggested that they're actively avoiding Xeno forces, another settlement has evacuated and is enroute to Mar Sara City."

"Blackwater station has been overrun by Xeno forces and the confederate- warning an attack force is enroute to mar Sara city from the surrounding hives, alerting General Johnson- confederate forces have stopped at the purple vespene refinery and are arresting everyone there, the rest of the settlements have evacuated, the mining crews that aren't tied to any settlements are starting to arrive outside of xeno influence around the city."

"Johnson, we have people waiting for us to get them."

"Yes sir."

"Be ready to give me a report of what you see while enroute to get them in, I'll have a second squad ready to apply pressure elsewhere to make the journey easier."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Adjutant, provide radar support for the general and his squad."

"Should I take the volunteers?"

"No, I'll take the volunteers, your job is a lot more dangerous."

"thirty standing force casualties, one hundred refugee casualties."

"An unknown military force has engaged the Xenos and the Confederates enroute to evacuating civilians."

"Track this new group, can you identify them?"

"No, magistrate, the refugees from the first settlement have arrived."

"General."

"I heard it, Men let's move out!"

"With fewer losses this time." I half joke.

"This time we're expecting the ground spikes."

"fifteen standing force casualties, seventy five refugee casualties, Xeno forces are now reinforcing."

"All settlements have been overrun, the last of the refugees are almost at the Xeno hives surrounding the city, The confederates have pulled out as has this new militant group."

"How many refugees?"

"Eight hundred thirteen."

"That's… not as much as I was hoping for."

"Incoming transmission from the Sons of Korhal, their Liason is on hold."

The terrorist group, that explains who's been attacking the confederates, desperate times call for desperate measures. "Patch it through."

"Good day magistrate, my name is Arcturus Mengsk and I represent the Sons of Korhal."

"I've been following your movements on Mar Sara, although we didn't know who it was out of the many mercenary factions and rebel groups that didn't like my old employers." I say with a smile, no more red tape.

"I see you're familiar with the Confederate propaganda surrounding my group, but based on some of the transmissions we've intercepted, I think you'll see past that."

"You'll be correct, which is why I activated the distress beacon in the first place."

"It's never been our practice to operate in one place for too long, but these Zerg don't look like they're going to wait." Mengsk lets out a nervous chuckle.

I furrow my brow. "Zerg? Don't you mean Xenos? I was the first to see them on-"

"No Magistrate, you aren't." mengsk informs me. "We've discovered that the Confederates were aware of the Zerg since even before Chau Sara, it's why the Protoss incinerated the planet in the first place. The confederates have been conducting experiments on the Zerg for the past month or so, which is why I've extended my hand to you." Mengsk says darkly.

They brought the zerg to Mar Sara. Assigned me here knowing that they were going to kill me. I lean back in my chair thoughtfully.

"I'm going to make an offer Magistrate, I'd like to help you out by sending down a number of dropships to your colony and evacuate any survivors, you know of course that my organization operates outside the bounds of confederate law.

"That's why they spread their lies and misinformation, if you accept my help you'll be branded as an outlaw too."

"But it's a chance to save my people, the confederates lost my loyalty when they chose to arrest my militia and leave the rest to perish."

"It's time to make a stand, Magistrate." Mengsk smiles and nods.

"Adjutant, I'd like to address the people of Mar Sara, inside and outside of the city."

"Transmission starting."

"People of mar Sara, I am pleased to inform you that we now have a way offworld, if you aren't in Mar Sara City yet please hurry, we will get you inside, for those of us inside of Mar Sara city, it's time to plant our feet and hold the line at all costs. If you want to volunteer now's the best time for it, the Sons of Korhal are sending dropships to evacuate us, now's not the time for reservations, at least if you want to live to see tomorrow. End Transmission."

"Transmission finished."

"General are you there?"

"Yes magistrate." He sounds doubtful.

"The last of our people are arriving from the west, take as many as you need and bring them home, I'll take the rest and try and push the Zerg out the opposite way." Good news, Mar Sara city is surrounded by water, they can only attack us from natural choke points of the bridges. Bad news is that we're surrounded by water, they can hold the chokes against us as easily as we can, and with every settlement gone they can focus all of their forces on those chokes.

"Sons of Korhal Battle Cruiser detected in orbit." I can hear explosions, so I throw open my bedroom window and look outside, watching as laser batteries are blasting into the hives surrounding the city. "It has begun bombardment of the Zerg surrounding the city."

"How close are the refugees?"

"The refugees aren't close enough for immediate support."

It'll have to do. "General plans have changed, we're acting now. The Sons of Korhal are beginning the evacuation by bombing the Xeno's, I'm not leaving anyone behind so get moving!" I shout into the earpiece.

"Yes sir! Attention Escort squads one through five we've leaving now, get your suits on and ass's in gear!" He's shouting louder than I was.

I sprint outside, pulling my officer jacket on. They'll need me to lead the defences. "Adjutant bring the Command Centers online, and get me Simmons."

"Sir?"

"Get your men into SCV's and on repair detail, nobody's sitting on their hands for this one."

I make my way to the north east bridges, two chokes we can push and have immediate support from the forces on the adjacent bridge. I don't go to the bridges, I head for the wall in between them. In the breaks in the wall are two bunkers each, with point defence turrets in front of them.

On the walls are missile turrets, for the flying zerg we saw while making our way here, they seemed harmless enough but but… wait what are those? A new breed of Zerg emerges from the ground, taller and sleeker than the Zerglings with only two limbs, I watch as- A spine flies past my head, forcing me to the ground.

"Get the Magistrate out of-"

"I'm staying!" I stand back up, this time behind my guards. "I need every able body at the north east entrance stat, the general is going to push out to get the rest of our people in, there's a new breed of Z-Xeno out there, a ranged combatant.

"Engage with caution, and exterminate with extreme prejudice." I flick out a pocket watch. "Waiting on you, General."

"Moving now."

"Charge!" I throw an arm forward, with a war cry the soldiers sprint out guns blazing. One line pushes while another provides covering fire. The Zerg retaliate to our push by attempting to swarm the bridges.

Gas turrets spring up and spray the immediate area with vespene gas, the effect is immediate as Zerglings drop dead. Interestingly they seem to recognize the threat and destroy the turret immediately before carrying on, releasing the rest of the vespene stored. The Marines have air tanks attached to their suits, we have a massive advantage as long as the gas stays.

Provided the igniter doesn't go off. "Adjutant can you disable the igniter on the bridge to my left?"

"Flame turret disabled."

"Enable it on my mark." I tap my ear piece. "I'm going to trust that you'll let me know when you get back." The wave of lasers sweeps the area before returning to support the westward push.

"The Sons of Korhal Battlecruiser has released dropships, eta to dropzone is thirty minutes." The Adjutant informs me.

We have three thousand people to evacuate offworld, does Mengsk have enough ships for one trip? "How many dropships are we talking?"

"Twelve, each one is capable of holding a hundred passengers."

Three trips. The gas turret on the right bridge is destroyed, covering it in deadly gas that threatens to reach my position. "Disable the igniter to my right, enable it on my mark."

"Flame turret disabled, northern bridge under assault."

"Common, answer the push." I mumble under my breath as my troops reach the edge of the bridge, threatening to destroy the frontline they've maintained over the week.

If they don't stop us, we will purge their influence from the world… but if the north doesn't hold then we all die. "Careful pushing past the bridge, I saw some of them emerge from the ground." I alert the troops.

"Yes sir, you heard the Magistrate!" The troops halt their advance, holding the line within the cloud of vespene.

"Northern bridge is holding with SCV support." The Adjutant informs me.

Glad I mobilized every SCV we had, could have lost the northern front and in turn lost everyone.

There's a loud explosion from the south. "Western bridge Flame turret manually activated."

"Who activated it!?" I spin around as the laser barrage sweeps over the area, sweeping back and forth keeping the Zerg at bay. "Adjutant who detonated the west bridge?!"

"Magistrate the west bridge is going to collapse!"

"Keep it intact until the General gets back!"

"Trying, need more SCV's here!"

"Any SCV's by the north east bridges need to head over to the western bridge and keep it intact, who detonated the bridge?!" I demand, and no one answers. "I will personally court martial whoever detonated the western bridge!" They might have condemned a number of our soldiers and a number of our people to death.

"We've breached the Xeno lines, Magistrate!" I can barely hear the General over the gunfire.

"Pull back! We're heading west!"

"What about the Xeno force here?" A Marine questions.

"I'll take care of it, fall back!" I watch the line slowly fall back, keeping my head down to avoid spines as big as my head. The last one passes the bunkers. "We're not resting yet, SCV's and marines move to the western bridge and keep it up!"

It'll be quite the run, but they're soldiers. It's me that can't run. "Adjutant detonate the bridges!" But I can certainly try.

Two explosions rip through the air, leaving the north east bridges crumbling, rubble flying past my head. How did the western bridge survive the explosion?

"We heard explosions, need us to head over and-"

"No, focus on the standing bridges, and the western one." Without the gas turrets it's the weakest front, and the north east bridges are now secure. "I need a car!" I call out, no way I'm sprinting the entire distance and not getting an asthma attack.

"I'll get one." One of my guards leaves for the supply depot, maybe there's a car stored there that I can use.

I wonder how the civilians are doing. My asthma starts acting up and I pull out an inhaler for immediate use.

The guard returns with a car. "Where to?"

"The Western bridge, we need to give the general as much support as we can." I hop into the back of the transport.

"Southern bridge under assault."

"If they get within five meters of the bunkers, detonate the bridge."

"Flame turret manually active, northern bridge destroyed."

"Who detonated that one?!" I demand again, granted I was going to detonate them all once the general got back with the refugees, but this premature detonation is routing the zerg forces to the remaining ones, increasing the pressure on the other chokes. "Let the southern bridge fall and reroute forces to the western and south western bridges." Only three bridges remain, the main two at the north east have fallen, someone detonated the north and western bridges.

"I need to see the status at the Western bridge." I inform the soldiers.

"We can't put you in danger, Magistrate." The driver warns.

"I'm aware, but that doesn't change the fact that I need to survey the damage the western bridge sustained myself, if it gets to dangerous we can retreat somewhere it's not."

"Understood." I can't hear the engine over the gunfire and screeching of the Zerg. Hopefully they haven't reached the bunkers yet.

It's bad, really bad. The bunkers have been abandoned in order to push up enough for the SCV's to perform repairs on the bridge, they might be too good at their job as it's stable enough that it won't collapse.

With the bunkers empty I can observe the battlefield from within one. "I didn't know that bunkers had close range radar." I poke at the screen, it's not holo or touch, probably so that the marines can't break it. It's almost entirely red on one side of the instrument, it's not hard to guess what they are.

My guards are watching the front lines with guns at the ready, just in case anything breaks past the line and makes a beeline for the city. Reinforcements are steadily coming in, helping the frontline maintain. "Where is the general?"

"Sons of Korhal dropships have touched down." The Adjutant informs me.

"Civilians first, I want a detachment to aid in the evacuation!"

"We're running low on ammo!" The line of marines starts falling back.

"Simmons send an SCV to the barracks on a supply run for the soldiers."

"Parker you heard the man!"

One of the SCV's breaks off and hovers as fast as it's boosters can take it back into the city. "Once everyone's reloaded we're going to make a push for the general, bring our people home." We're close now, so close. "Can you rebuild the trap Simmons?"

"I'll need to get some vespene and some parts, but I should be able to."

"Do it, we're severing our land ties the moment everyone's safe." I turn my attention to the city, the first dropship takes off, followed by another and then another until they're all powering towards the battlecruiser. Thirteen hundred people have made it offworld, I can't help but smile.

If nothing else, some of us made it offworld. Gunfire, screams, reality's calling, get yourself together Max. "Tell me you're on your way back, general."

"It's bad out here, they're everywhere!"

"Are you making progress?"

"At this rate we'll be out of ammo long before getting back."

"Where's the resupply?!" There should be multiple barrack's at each bridge, there's no way Parker could get lost trying to find one.

A dozen SCV's speed around the corner, hauling crates of ammo. "Parker you son of a bitch, had us worried!" Simmons says over the coms.

Parker's local radio crackles. "Sorry to keep you waiting, got a few extra hands to haul all this."

"Gas Turrets finished."

"Reload and march! We're bringing them in!" I throw an arm out as the marines retreat to the ammo boxes.

"Keep the SCV's safe, the gas turrets can't activate with them there." The SCV's aren't as air tight as a marine suit, more like a construction rig to be honest.

"Agh!" One of the SCV's explodes as a spine hits it's gas canister.

"SCV's fall back to the bunkers, the front's too hot for you."

"Back up boys!" The SCV's fall back as freshly reloaded marines rush past them to maintain the front.

"Warning, current ammo use is exceeding ammo production." The Adjutant warns me.

"Doesn't matter, once we're done with this push we shouldn't have to fight anymore."

"We're taking heavy casualties, where's that support!"

"On It's way general." The marines push, it's a crawl with the zerg ranged support killing enough soldiers for the Zerglings to get close. It's staggering how many there are, it's as if the very ground has come alive and is trying to kill us.

Another sweep of lasers from orbit sweeps the area, lingering in the area before moving on to support the other bridges.

It was enough to let us push, a line of marines has stayed behind to hold the line at the bridge.

"The next wave of Dropships has arrived."

"That was fast."

"The Sons of Korhal are launching more dropships."

"Good to know they have the room for us."

There's an explosion in the distance, not a bridge this time thankfully. A squad of vultures appears in the distance, speeding through the zerg lines and causing havoc. "We heard you had a way off this rock."

The Viper gang, outlaws. "Indeed we do." I'm not in any position to turn down any help. "We have refugees being escorted in, but it's slow."

"We'll drive circles around these dogs, isn't that right boys!?" There is a lot of cheering over the coms as the gang speeds past the western bridge, dropping spider mines in the middle of groups of Zerg… How anyone can manage going breakneck speeds while on a hovercraft is beyond me.

One of the Vultures crashes, tumbling over and plowing through several zerg before exploding. I guess it's just luck. "I know you have your reservations about working with outlaws general, but this isn't the time for it." Chances are he can't hear me over the gunfire, screaming, and explosions, but I might as well let him know regardless.

There's a line of explosions as rows of spider mines detonate, clearing a path through the zerg that's quickly filling in. The zerg don't get too close the way as orbital bombardment sweeps the area. I can see the men coming back, with a group of refugees.

The group reaches the bridge and sprints across. "Flame turret finished!" The SCV's fall back.

"Viper Gang, everyone's across and we're going to blow the bridges, if you want off world get across now."

"You heard the man!" More cheering, these men are psychotic.

"Everyone fall back from the bridges, once they're clear detonate them." The vultures speed over the bridge, dropping yet more mines. How many can they cram into those things? "How many did we lose general?" I ask with a heavy heart.

Who could have predicted this number of- "Sir, we should fall back."

The vespene turrets start spewing their lethal poison. "I agree, back to the command center."

I'm quickly ushered out of the bunker and away from the cloud of vespene. There's a series of explosions as the remaining bridges explode, the western one falling last. We're cut off, and safe. "Now that things are quiet, status report General."

…

"General?" I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Johnson's dead, dying or unconscious. "One of you." I turn to my guards. "Get me numbers, how many did we manage to bring back."

"Yes sir."

While that's being done I enter one of the four command centers, it takes a few minutes but I reach the command room. "Radar, now."

A clump of green is surrounded by a sea of red, a hole is being swept through the sea but it fills back in. "Estimation of twenty billion Zerg on Mar Sara as of this moment."

"Excuse me?"

"Estimation of twenty-"

"I heard you!" This colony has been here for only two years, and we've yet to see even half of the entirety of Mar Sara, yet here these aliens are, covering the globe in a mere month. How can anyone hope to compare to-

"Warning, airborne zerg detected." The Adjutant highlights a pack of red dots making their way over.

"Do we have visual?" I ask and a camera's feed appears on the holo, it zooms in and the Adjutant sketches out an appearance of the airborne zerg. "That… doesn't look like the Zerg we encountered on the way here." It's not a flying octopus, it's more like a flying snake. "Looks like we're not done yet." I let out a sigh. "Are our missile turrets enough to fend them off?"

"Unsure, not enough data to make an accurate calculation."

"Use wraiths as a comparison."

"Yes, we have enough. They have engaged the missile turrets, marines and SCV's are inbound to provide support."

"How many people are left to evacuate, including military personal?"

"Nine hundred twenty three."

"How long until the next batch of Dropships reach the LZ?"

"The Airborne zerg are intercepting the dropships, forcing them to take evasive action."

"Looks like we'll have to leave the missile turrets on if we want to get out alive." Suddenly a block of airborne zerg vanishes.

"The Sons of Korhal Battlecruiser has opened fire on the airborne zerg."

"Start shutting down the Command centers, I'm going to get your portable unit before heading for extraction."

"Yes Magistrate." Every transmission I've had on Mar Sara is recorded on that thing, it'd be too much of a loss to forget it.

"Another wave of dropships has landed, civilian personnel have been loaded onto the transports, militia are awaiting your arrival before evacuating themselves."

"Do we still have the car?" I ask my guards.

"Yeah, we can be at the LZ in less than a minute if we book it."

"Brief detour, I need to grab the Adjutant's mobile unit, it has every transmission I've had as active magistrate of Mar Sara saved on it."

"We'll be a few minutes late to the party." One of my guards says into the coms.

"In the Pipe, Five by Five."

It wasn't a long detour, it's probably the most peaceful it's been in over a week or so… if it weren't for the missile turrets and the Sons of Korhal bombardment I might be persuaded to forget about the outside world.

But… that's not a possibility. "Open the AI core for access."

"Security password required."

"You piece of useless junk."

"Opening AI core." Just past the main entrance a tunnel entrance emerges from the ground, it takes a few minutes to traverse as I pass an obscene amount of turrets lining the walls, floor and ceiling. The actual Adjutant unit is suspended in the center of the chamber by wires, I don't think I'll miss it, it looks a bit too human for my tastes.

"Once I unplug this, I want the manor to shut off, it's possible we might come back and I want everything ready and able when we do." If the Zerg don't destroy everything despite it being off.

"Yes Magistrate."

I reach for the Suitcase and unplug it, stuffing the wire into the case. "Farewell, Mar Sara." While not my homeworld, it definitely felt like it.

The lights dim, and I return to my guards, holding the case for all to see.

"Let's move."

"Rock and roll!"

A dropship takes off and lands closeby the manor, opening the hatch for the car to drive into. The rest of the dropships are taking off towards the Battle cruiser. "Strap yourselves in boys."

Waiting by the top of the ramp is a regal man, it's not until I hop out of the car that I realize who he is. "Arcturus Mengsk, surprised to see you on the world you're helping to evacuate."

"I wanted to meet the Magistrate in person, Magistrate." He gives me a nod.

"We'll have plenty of time aboard your cruiser, sir." I give him a salute.

"Please, Mengsk is fine." He holds out a hand.

And I shake it. "Alright, Mengsk, where are we going from here?"

"What was holding out against the Zerg like?" he asks with a concerned expression on his face. "I saw from orbit, but things are a bit different with a bird's eye view of the planet."

"They were everywhere, coming out of the ground and apparently they can fly!" I throw an arm out towards a flock of Zerg being held back by a missile turret. "I didn't know they could multiply faster than rabbits, Mengsk."

"Come take a seat, we'll be awhile before reaching the Hyperion."

The Hyperion, my future home. "I'd appreciate the chance to rest."

Author's Notes: Whew, one of the longest chapters I've ever written, and it's probably one of my favorite missions of all the original Starcraft terran missions, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I liked- okay that's a lie, part of me wanted to put off this mission for a few chapters, but I don't see what I could have added to make this more of a filled out arc, but I guess a three chapter story arc isn't bad? Regardless things are going to slow down more now that these events aren't back to back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Magistrate to Commander**

Chapter 4: First day of Treachery

"It'll take some getting used to, but hopefully I won't have to pack my things anymore." I tell mengsk jokingly.

"If you do, it'll be because we've won this war and reclaimed Korhal." He says seriously.

"Didn't Korhal get nuked into space dust?"

"It's still there Magistrate, waiting for us to go back and reclaim it." Mengsk takes a cigar and offers me one.

"Can't, Asthma."

"I apologize." Mengsk hastily puts his pack away.

"No worries, what's next?"

Mengsk takes a whiff. "The Zerg have almost overrun the entirety of Mar Sara and the Confederates are scrambling to evacuate, now's the perfect time to raid their installation and take whatever weapon plans and schematics that're there."

"Incoming Transmission." The Hyperion's Adjutant pipes up.

"Perfect timing, patch it through."

"Hey man."

"Raynor!"

"Arcturus's boys sprung me from the prison ship, apparently they're as frustrated with the confederates as we are!"

"I ditched their flag when they condemned us to die on Mar Sara." I sneer. Duke will pay. "We're both Sons of Korhal now it seems, Marshal." I give him a knowing nod.

"As I was saying the Confederates are abandoning the planet, and so are we, but there is one more thing I'd like to do before we leave."

"Raid Jacob's Installation, right?" I can't think of any other Confederate base than that.

Mengsk nods. "I want you to raid it, and take whatever design or weapon schematics that you can find on their network, with the chaos of the evacuation you shouldn't have any trouble getting in." He proposes.

"I'm into it." Raynor shrugs.

"Our first real act of treason, you ready for it Marshal?"

"Please, I'm not a Marshal anymore."

"Cowboy then."

"How about you, Commander?" Raynor asks me.

"No, I'll keep the title of Magistrate if only to spite the Confederates, as the one Magistrate they left to die comes back to be their ultimate undoing." I say with purpose.

"We don't have long, the Zerg are spreading out across the planet and it won't be long until the protoss come by to destroy Mar Sara like they did Chau Sara." Mengsk tells us.

"I'll take care of raiding the installation, Magistrate you make sure there's a dropship for us to get back in."

"Will do."

"Transmission ended."

"I'll be seeing you when you get back, Magistrate." Mengsk walks away.

"I'll go collect a few pilots, and several soldiers then." I rub my chin. I shouldn't get too much backsass in the effort… hopefully.

` I managed to find three troop transport pilots and Raynor managed to round up three dozen soldiers to fill them up. "Are these suits always this heavy?" I ask, shaking the Cowboy's hand.

"You get used to em." Raynor chuckles at my discomfort. His suit is almost entirely black, mine is almost entirely white.

It feels like everything is on a delay but not. "Everyone on board?" I activate my local coms.

"Yes sir, you are cleared for launch." The hangar overseer answers back.

"Alright boys, strap in!" Raynor sits in one of the twelve seats, I head for the cockpit and settle down in the co-copilot seat.

I don't know how to fly these things, so if my pilot falls unconscious we're going to plummet. "Thrusters engaged, ready for take-off."

It'll take half an hour to reach the ground, hopefully the confederate's anti air is disabled or this will be a five minute flight.

"Nervous, Magistrate?" The Pilot asks.

"Yes, for a lot of reasons."

"Don't worry, everyone's nervous on their first flight."

"I flew to get here."

"I meant with me."

Oh no. "I'll just add that to the list." I say as calmly as I can manage.

We take off, the bottom of the transport almost scraping the hangar floor as we launch out the hangar doors at breakneck speeds while the other two are still lifting off. "You are not allowed to put any transports in risk of crashing upon lift off in the future, okay?"

"I thought time was of the essence?" She's making fun of me.

"Our lives aren't worth it." I plug the Adjutant's mobile unit into the dropship.

"Adjutant online."

"Whoa, fancy."

"Yeah, being a Magistrate had its perks."

"Like what?"

"Hot tub Jacuzzi that massages your entire body while you rest."

She whistles. "Sounds like I'll have to swing by your place sometime."

Dead silence for a good minute or so as my mind is racing for a way out of this topic.

"Trying not to imagine me in a bathing suit?"

"Too late."

She belts out a laugh and my cheeks redden.

I let out a cough. "Adjutant, keep the squads informed of what's happening on the ground as it happens."

"Yes Magistrate." The suitcase falls silent as the dropship's speakers pick up. "The Confederate base is almost completely deserted, there are still some security personal onsite, the eastern missile turrets are slowly shutting down."

"Pilot."

"I gotcha." She flicks on the coms. "We're looping around to the eastern edge for easy infiltration."

"As long as you don't kill your passengers, Aaila." The Dropship's radio flickers.

Aaila scoffs. "Hasn't happened yet, won't happen ever." She then flicks off her radio. "Babies, both of them." She glances at me like I've already agreed with her.

"Suddenly wish I was on a different ship."

"Wimp, thought you were a man."

"A man without a death wish." I grip the armrest nervously, hoping that the augmented strength this suit gives me isn't enough to crush it without thinking.

"We'll be fine." Aaila waves off my concern.

I sigh in exasperation, it's useless trying to argue with this woman. "More Confederate dropships are taking off, I can detect the Command Center has lost power." The Adjutant helpfully changes the subject.

"Perfect, they won't see us coming." Little victory.

"How does that work?" Aaila asks.

"The base's Adjutant is tied to the Command Center, if it's off then that means there's no automatic alert for the confederates."

"And your mobile Adjutant can just tell?"

"It used to be a confederate Adjutant, other than that I'm as clueless as to how this works as you are." Knowing how an Adjutant operates wasn't on the magistrate list of things to know. I'd bet an engineer would be able to-

"Wouldn't that mean that they can scan for us since we're using one of their adjutants?"

"Well Adjutant?"

"Yes Magistrate."

"Can they use you to detect us?"

"Yes Magistrate."

"Incognito mode?"

"Seperating from the confederate network would mean that I can no longer track their movements."

"I think it's worth it, as long as their missile turrets are going offline."

"And I'm the one going to get us killed?" Aaila scoffs.

She's right, if they were paying attention in the last ten minutes I'd be turning the missile turrets on rather than turning them off. The question now becomes how much resistance are we going to face upon landing? I activate the ship's coms. "Entry's going smoothe, but there's a chance of a welcoming committee, put together just for us." I take my hand off the intercom.

"And here I was thinking we weren't special." Aaila puts a hand on her chest mockingly.

"We're going to make the worst guests ever." I say with a grin, hidden behind my visor.

"Undoubtedly, I wonder if there's an award for that?" Aaila taps her chin as something peppers the floor.

"Gunshots." I theorize.

"Yup, good luck punching through the armor retards." Aaila flips on the radio. "Don't wuss out on me you pansies."

"We'll follow your lead." The other pilots don't sound to thrilled about following in the same airstream as a daredevil. Can't say I blame them.

We start hovering above the ground, not a single missile turret fired at us. "Doors opening in Five. Four. Three. Two. One." Aaila hits a button and the gunfire ramps up instantly.

"Cowboy take a squad and get into the main facility, I'll take one to take out some missile turrets, the rest stays here and defends our way out."

"I read you." The Marshal says over the radio.

"I'll be here." I stand to leave and Aaila kicks her feet over my chair and stretches. "Close the door on the way out, it's reinforced so I'll be safe from anything so long as it's shut."

It's an automatic door. I roll my shoulders and step out onto the battlefield without a rifle. The armor is more for my protection than to allow me to fight.

Raynor's charging the facility with a detachment of marines and the firebats he brought. "I want a defensive line set up, and mortars pointed at the Missile turrets, just in case!" I yell to the remaining soldiers.

"Contact east!" A marine shouts over the coms.

"They were the ones shooting at us, hold the line!" I watch as mobile cover is deployed and emplacements locked in place.

More gunfire as my troops return fire on the confederates, hopefully we're gone by the time reinforcements arrive. "There's too few of them, we'll easily hold." One of the marines boasts.

"Keep your eyes open, and the confederates suppressed." We should be in and out before the Confederates get word of our incursion on their little research facility.

"This- Jim, we've- plans." Raynor's voice is heavily crackling over the radio.

"I read you, we're holding position."

"They'- experimenting- asap."

"Do you need extraction?" I ask slowly, and worried.

"Have- ready- go!"

"I think I get you." I head back into the dropship I came out of and knock on the pilot's door.

"Need something?" Aaila asks, someone needs to check the intercom on these things, that's far too much static to be usable.

"The boys are on their way back and want the Dropships primed to go."

"In the Pipe, Five by Five." The dropship engines roar to life, but doesn't take off. "You heard him boys and girls."

The other two dropships roar to life. "Be ready to pull back into the dropships!" I tell the soldiers. We've lost two already, but their sacrifices won't be in vain.

Not a minute too soon Raynor and his squad, missing half of what originally went in and- Oh, oh no. "GET TO THE DROPSHIPS!" I shout to the troops.

Behind raynor's squad is a horde of Zerg pouring out after them. "Get us off the ground but low enough to pull them in!"

"Roger." It's a frantic race to get everyone inside the Dropships before being overwhelmed.

The Dropships lift off the ground as Raynor's men reaches us, the marines in the dropship help me in pulling the two firebats at the bottom of the ramp onto the dropship as it takes off. Nobody was left behind.

"Raynor you there?" I ask over the coms.

"It was a close one, but we made it."

"Where did the Zerg come from?"

"They were in pens the Confederates let loose when we got the data disks."

"Sweet mother of mercy." One of the marines says looking over the edge of the ramp.

"Strap in, we're taking off."

I head for the cockpit. On my seat is a bag of chestnuts, with broken shells littering the floor. That explains the 'static' "You had snacks?"

"Want some?" Aaila gestures to the bag.

With a shrug I pick up the bag and sit down on the seat, not like I was going to feel the crumbs anyways.

"I think these hands are too big for getting into this bag."

"Make you a deal, I fish out the goods, you crack em and then we split em."

"Sounds good enough for me." I hand the psychotic pilot the bag and she hands me a few to crack open.

"Adjutant get me the hyperion." I pop one into my mouth, which was a challenge in of itself.

"News Magistrate?" Mengsk's voice comes in the transmission.

"We have the data disks and are on our way back, although with a few empty seats."

"I see, we'll make sure they're remembered for their sacrifices." Mengsk says solemnly. "We'll take a look at the disks when you get back."

"They were experimenting with Zerg in there, what could they possibly be using the Zerg for?"

"This is interesting news indeed, the faster you get back the better."

"Did someone say go faster?" Aaila pipes up.

"Don't you-"

"Hope everyone's strapped in!" Nothing happens. "I was kidding, we're going as fast as we can already."

Pity the only thing I can do is warn her against performing more take offs from the Hyperion in the future, ignoring that only then I can court martial her.

One can hope.

The landing was relatively smooth, compared to the take off at least. "What, now you're not going to crash us?"

"I'd never try to crash my ship!" Aaila retorts appalled. "We're not in a rush, so why rush it?"

I'll let you off the hook this time. "Thank you for your service."

"What about my Chestnuts?"

"And for the Chestnuts." I walk off of the Dropship, her shouting after me.

We lost nine out of thirty six. "I hope those plans were worth it." I mumble "Cowboy!"

Raynor's not hard to find in the midst of red armor. "Mission accomplished." He says flicking his visor up with a grin.

"I'll take the disks to mengsk, you go enjoy some off time." I open my visor.

"Make sure to let me know what's on these things, partner." He hands me the container he's been clutching.

"Will do."

"I'm going to go take a nap, haven't slept in days." Raynor stretches.

"Cowboy."

"Hm?"

"Make sure you take that armor off first."

"I'm not drunk!" He dismisses my concern.

Do they forget to take off their armor if they're drunk? I can only imagine the damages to their rooms as they stumble about. At least those days are behind me.

I'll take my armor off after I report to Mengsk. "I have the Disks Mengsk wanted." I tell the guards at the bridge entrance.

They step aside and let me through. "Magistrate." Mengsk greets.

I put the data disk container on the holo display. "Everything Raynor managed to get is here."

"Good." Mengsk opens the container and inserts one of the disks into the holo display.

Images of Zerg associated with data appears. "Wait, all the Zerg come from Larvae?" I watch as a holographic larvae turns into an egg, and then bursts out into Zergling, then the hologram rewinds and it bursts out into the ranged variant, and then again into the flying variant. Each one has a name.

Zergling. Hydralisk. Mutalisk. Drone. And that's just off in the corner, what's dominating most of the hologram is a device. "Indeed Magistrate, but what in hell is that?" Mengsk points at the device. "Adjutant."

"Scanning Data Disk, it appears to be the blueprints of a device designated as a 'Psi Emitter', able to tune into the psionic link the Zerg share and call them to its location."

"Is it a prototype?"

"Yes, Magistrate."

"Mengsk." I say seriously. "If this thing works as advertised we can't use it, ever. We'd be as bad as the Confederates if we used it, you weren't on the ground fighting the Zerg so you don't know what it was like." I shake my head solemnly.

"I'll keep that in mind, Magistrate." Mengsk straightens his collar.

"Protoss forces detected." The Adjutant pipes up.

"Get us out of here!" Mengsk yells to the pilot.

"Initiating warp."

"Please Mengsk, don't use the Psi Emitter." I plead with him once more.

"When was the last time you got a good night's rest?"

"When I first became Magistrate."

"Go take some time off, you've more than earned it." I can't shake the feeling that he doesn't want me around nagging him about the ethics of using such a weapon.

No, a dinner bell.

With a sigh I leave the bridge, orders are orders. Time to take this thing off, while it's not a hindrance, it adds an extra three feet to my height and almost as much in bulk. Let's not forget the weight it has on it's own.

I swear it takes longer to take off than to put on. After straightening my officer suit out I head for the canteen, maybe their cooks are as good as the ones I had, maybe they've been integrated into the Hyperion's kitchen staff. One can hope.

"Mage!" A drunk calls out to me the moment I enter the canteen. A glance at the shipboard clock tells me that it's actually quite 'late', and people have started getting drunk already. "Everyone it's the Mage!"

The people who aren't in Sons of Korhal civilian, soldier uniforms or staff outfits cheer for me. I graciously take a bow with a hand over my chest.

While I am Sons of Korhal now, these are my people, the refugees of Mar Sara. Once the cheering has subsided I take a seat at a vacant table, which is quickly filled by happy refugees. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have made it inside of Mar Sara City."

"Which group were you a part of?" I ask him.

"The last one." He gets somber. "The General died getting me out of the way of an impaler's attack."

"I see." I then rest a hand on his shoulder. "We're going to stick it to the confederates that thought we were expendable."

The men and women around me cheer. "What can we get you?" A waitress asks, chest puffed out in pride.

"You wouldn't happen to have Sub sandwiches on the menu?" I ask sheepishly.

I ended up getting more than I asked for, but it was okay as I needed something sweet and a drink to wash everything down. "Looks like you're the most popular person here."

"Hey Cowboy." I greet placing a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. "How've you been holding up?"

"Took a nap, now all is right." He stretches.

"That simple eh? Maybe I should let myself crash every once in awhile." I ponder the thought.

One of the semi conscious refugees at the table gurgles, I move my plate of food out of the way just as he hurls the ale he ingested. Close one, but now there's puke on my uniform. "Euch." Raynor scrunches his nose. "Someone clearly can't handle his alcohol."

"Looks like I'm going to have to change." I say with a sigh. "Have we been assigned rooms yet?"

"Magistrate?!" A new person marches into the room. "Magistrate?"

"Need something?" I ask wiping a rag over the stain on my jacket.

"I'm your assigned bodyguard, and once you're ready I'm to take you to your room." He salutes me.

"Most popular and special?" Raynor taps me on the shoulder. "I'm envious."

"Given time you'll be as 'popular' as I am." I promise him.

"What, a Marshal getting arrested is going to outstripe a Magistrate who evacuated a quarter of a planet?" Raynor skoffs.

"It can happen." I promise him as my new bodyguard takes his position by my side. "Where're you from?" I ask the newbie.

"I was born on Tarsonis, but my family moved offworld shortly after I was born."

"Tarsonis?" I turn my full attention to my bodyguard. "That's the capital of the Confederacy, why would any law abiding citizen want to leave?"

"I don't know, sir. My parents never told me." He still hasn't broken that stoic stance he's made. It looks silly.

"Relax a little son." Raynor claps him on the shoulder. "How'd you get mixed up in the Sons of Korhal?"

"Confederates decided that my home on antiga one was full of dissenters." He doesn't need to say anymore, so I don't press it.

"Thank you for sharing… uh."

"Kaleb, Kaleb Vahln." He introduces himself.

"Maxton Durge, but you probably already knew that." I say with a chuckle, lifting the plate off of the table. "I think I'll finish this in my room, where there's no one else's meal can end up becoming attached to mine."

"Yes sir!" This has to be the stiffest soldier I've ever seen.

"Talk to you later." Raynor waves me off.

"Why are you behind me? Aren't you supposed to be the one leading me to my room?"

"Y-yes, Sorry sir!" He speeds up to lead the way.

"New around here?" I ask suppressing a chuckle.

"Few months, but I've never need a guard before."

"Ease up, as long as I'm safe you're doing your job."

"But you could be put in danger at any moment?"

"Aboard the Hyperion?" I raise a doubtful eyebrow.

"A wire could break loose, a drunk marine could fall on you in his armor!"

"Don't be absurd." I reprimand him. "I'm safest onboard the Hyperion."

Kaleb stops in front of a door and stands at attention, I guess this is our stop.

While not as spacious as my manor on Mar Sara, it's more spacious than the rooms I was given for live fire training.

A table dominates the center of the room with a rub under it, this must be the quarters for an officer. "Let me know if you need anything!" Kaleb practically shouts at me from the door.

"First, no need to shout when I'm right here."

"Sorry."

"Second off, if anyone wants to see me let me know who it is, and why they want to see me."

"Yes sir!" He perks up.

"Question."

"Yes, sir?"

"Will you follow me off of the Hyperion when Mengsk sends me away?"

"Indeed I will! I'm to not stray from your side for any reason."

"Are you my only guard?"

"I'm your main guard, but there are others so you always have someone protecting you."

"So you do stray." I tease.

"But not for long!" Kaleb retorts hotly.

"Reassuring." I close the door with my foot and then sigh.

"Welcome back, Magistrate." On the table is my portable Adjutant.

"Adjutant, have the Confederates tried contacting me?" I ask intrigued.

"Your tenure as Magistrate has been suspended due to affiliation with the Sons of Korhal, and a criminal investigation has been opened." The Adjutant answers from its suitcase.

Figures.

Author's Notes: And done, thank you everyone for reading! If you're still reading this then that means you are at least intrigued by the direction I'm taking the Magistrate's journey through Starcraft. Hopefully these in between mission segments aren't unbearable to read, or that my mission segments are unbearable to read. Meh, everyone has differing tastes. Anyways I hope you enjoyed and will stick around for more!


	5. Chapter 5

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 5: Antiga prime**

"Magistrate, Arcturus Mengsk has requested your presence on the bridge." The Adjutant's voice startles me awake.

"I'm up, tell him I'll be up in half an hour." I force myself upright, how long did I sleep for?

"He's giving you five." The Adjutant replies.

"Five half hours? He's generous." I joke as I get out of bed and changing into my uniform as quickly as possible. "Can you tell my guard to get me something I can eat on the move?"

"Yes, Magistrate."

It's strange, having a bodyguard who's also a personal servant… I don't know if that's in the job description but I'll take advantage of it if I can.

Two minutes later there's a knock at my door. "Let him in!" I try to say with a toothbrush in my mouth.

My personal guard enters the room. "I didn't know what you wanted other than 'can be eaten on the go' so I got you some breakfast burritos of varying types." Kaleb says flustered, he must have been sprinting.

Rinse and spit. "Thank you Kaleb." It's a plate of seven wrapped up tortillas, two of them have rice spilling out of them.

"I did what I could." Kaleb salutes and stands at attention, puffing out his chest with pride.

"Thank you." I pick up the plate and balance it with one hand, with the other I pluck part one of my breakfast and quick march out. "I'm needed on the bridge." I say in between bites.

Kaleb nods and falls into step behind me. "I don't think you should be wolfing them down." Kaleb warns me. "Don't you have asthma? If you eat to fast won't you-"

"I'm not made out of glass Kaleb." I reassure him. "Hold the lift!" I call out, increasing my pace.

"Morning magistrate!" It's one of the hyperion's few scientists. "Thank you for getting the data disks for us, we're still finding more stuff on it."

"You're not… manufacturing anything from those plans right?" I ask, dread creeping down my spine.

The lift doors close. "No, right now we're just analyzing the plans and theorycrafting how they work." He assures me.

"Those disks have a weapon that should never be used." I tell him.

"You must be referring to the Psi Emitter, a chilling yet fascinating discovery." He doesn't sound disturbed. "What else have the Confederates been working on? A way to disrupt the Psionic Link the Zerg share perhaps?" And then he dissolves into technical scientific speak that I'm nowhere near intelligent to understand, but I know it revolves around the Zerg… I think. Unsure how pasta is involved with the intricate bioelectric communication system the Zerg share with a lord who decided to give himself a promotion.

The lift door opens and I charge out, already biting down on the second part of my breakfast. The rice is glued together by hot sauce and ghost peppers, what sadist was assigned to be my personal bodyguard?

"The Commander's expecting you." One of the marines by the bridge entrance tells me. "Your guard can wait out here with us." He stops Kaleb from entering.

"I'll be here when you leave!" Kaleb salutes as the door shuts behind me.

Raynor's not here yet. "I thought I was the one going to be late." I say finishing the burrito that wants to watch my mouth burn.

"Greetings Magistrate." Mengsk greets. "You're late."

"Woke up five minutes ago, I hope you don't mind, commander."

"Wake up sooner next time, you take orders from me now."

"Yes sir." I nod. What's the shipboard time? I feel like I get up pretty early.

Mengsk clears his throat. "You and Captain Raynor have done well, Magistrate." Mengsk praises.

"If the facility wasn't abandoned I imagine that we'd have had a much harder time than what we did end up facing." I agree with the captain.

"Regardless." Mengsk continues. "I believe our efforts have weakened the Confederacy's grip on the fringe worlds, but our job out here isn't done yet." Mengsk straightens his collar and clears his throat. "Lieutenant Kerrigan, my second in command will elaborate."

The holoscreen flickers and becomes a 3d model of a soundwave. "I'll get straight to the point, our sources tell us that Antiga Prime is ready to begin open revolt against the Confederacy." Good news. "Unfortunately the Confederates seem to be aware of this as well, they've stationed a large detachment of Alpha Squadron under the command of General Duke."

"Duke." I crush the burrito in my hand, sending most of its contents to the floor. "That hypocrite arrested my men for breaking Colonial law while he was breaking it in turn." My voice is dripping with venom.

"It will be your job to free this colony and show our good intent to the Antigan people Magistrate. Lieutenant Kerrigan will help you deal with Duke's Officers."

"I look forward to working with you, Lieutenant." I tell Kerrigan.

"Likewise."

"The rest of the Confederates are yours to deal with." Mengsk tells me.

"Oh it will be my pleasure." I wipe my hand off with a napkin.

"See you planetside." Kerrigan's transmission ends.

"The Lieutenant will give you more information when you reach the ground, dismissed."

When I leave my bodyguard is replaced by a marine who's painted his armor questionably. "Magistrate!" And it's Kaleb.

"Kaleb?"

"Y-yes, magistrate?"

"Why pink?"

...

"I... wanted my armor to be a mixture of the standard Sok colors.. And yours." He chuckles embarrassed.

"Hot pink though?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I wasn't the one who painted it, but there's no time to file a complaint."

"You are going to be made fun of for the entire mission, I hope you are aware."

Kaleb sighs. "I know sir, I know."

I clear my throat. "Who all volunteered for the Antiga Prime mission?" I ask, intentionally changing the subject.

"Numbers or names?" Kaleb's glad for the subject change.

"Names of officers, numbers for the rest."

"Graves Herold-"

"Graves is alive!?" I say with a start.

"You know him?" Kaleb asks.

"He was my only officer prior to the holdout in Mar Sara City." That's one familiar face.

"We also have a dropship pilot on the list."

"Good, I didn't want mengsk to have to assign me a couple."

"Why?"

"Personal preference."

Kaleb shrugs helplessly. "We have eight marines on the list… and a few 'Viper Gang members'?"

"Psychotic vulture riders." I say with a groan, our mission is to ensure that the antigans see us as friendly, not unstable man children.

The suit assembler lets me go and I take the first few steps carefully. "I don't know if we'll have enough space for four vultures on a single dropship."

"We'll take what we can and leave the rest." Hopefully it'll be none of them.

"Prioritizing…"

"The marines."

Time for me to suit up.

"Pleasure serving under you again, Magistrate." Graves gives me a salute.

"I'm glad to have someone competent to lead the troops."

The Hyperion intercom pipes up. "The Presence of Captain James Raynor has been requested on the bridge." The ship's adjutant announces across the entire ship.

What did he do now? "You did well enough getting our people off of Mar Sara, Magistrate." Graves praises me.

"I'm just lucky." I brush it off.

"Sir, there's a line between luck, and natural talent." The Sargent's faith in me is surprising.

"Let me know when we cross that line, okay?"

"You crossed that line when you got a fourth of Mar Sara's people offworld." Graves chuckles at my realism. The soldiers surrounding us cheer in agreement.

They can believe whatever they want. I turn my back to the applause and enter the dropship, the cockpit opens up automatically and I enter. "Thank you for volunteering, miss?"

"Aaila." Aaila lifts her shades and her cap.

"No." I shake my head, lifting my visor.

"I only accept payment in chestnuts, and it's due upon the mission's completion." She's being sarcastic.

"Maybe as a bonus, but definitely not as the main payment." I compromise.

There's silence for a time. "Sounds like the best deal I'm going to get." Aaila sighs. "What is the main payment if it's not chestnuts?"

"My gratitude."

"Great, that's as bad as being paid in exposure!" Aaila throws her arms into the air exasperated. People take payment in 'exposure' as opposed to 'credits'? "Strap yourselves in boys." She says into the ship's coms.

"Is that standard for pilots to say?"

"You'd be surprised at how many people need to be told to strap in before they actually do it." Aaila scoffs. "We're going from orbit to the ground in thirty minutes, how fast do you think we're going?"

"Are there actually people that-"

"Yes!" Aaila virtually shouts, initiating startup. "I went to jail because some moron didn't buckle in and ended up getting thrown around the shuttle going from orbit to a shuttle terminal." She rants, her controlled fury going into the dropship's controls.

"How?!"

"He claimed I remotely unbuckled his seat and locked it, what's worse was that some of the passengers claimed to have seen it happen." I can hear the hatred in her voice, but then softens up. "My boss tried to defend me, said that the seats are designed to automatically unbuckle in the case of an emergency, but the pilot has no ability to effect the seats themselves."

"Sounds like he was trying to save his company's reputation." I say sympathetically.

"Maybe, but that was all I had…" Aaila sighs. "Tell me you're strapped in." She doesn't look over.

"I'm not an idiot, give me some credit." My turn to scoff.

"Good, I don't want to get kicked out of the Sons of Korhal for 'killing the Magistrate' because you earned the darwin award." Her chuckle is hollow. "Didn't mean to dump all that on you, thinking about that guy made me mad."

"I'd be furious too!" I say quickly, and then sigh. "How long until we get to the ground?"

"Depends on how much resistance we face."

"Keep external coms open, we have an agent on the ground and I'd like to find her."

"Gotcha." She flicks a switch and a red light turns yellow. The shuttle shakes suddenly. "Missile turret, taking evasive action!"

We spin around randomly so fast that my stomach is starting to match Antiga Prime's current situation. "This is Kerrigan, what's your situation?"

"I'm going to assume you're the agent we're looking for." Aaila says through grit teeth. "A missile turret's got us locked, we'll have to back off until it's dealt with."

"Gotcha, sit tight and watch the fireworks." And she cuts off the transmission.

A missile explodes in the air near us, buffering the hull with shrapnel. "Too close for comfort." Aaila spins the craft to the side expertly as another missile explodes where we just were.

It feels like an eternity spent avoiding the missiles, and it feels like we're getting hit more often than not, whatever this thing's made out of I'm thankful that it's held out for so long.

There's an explosion, and not of the missile variety. "We lost an engine, I have to bring us down!" The cabin light turns red and we nosedive towards the ground in a desperate attempt to outrun the unrelenting missile swarm.

The explosions stop. "Impact in three." Did we slip beneath the missile turret's minimum altitude targeting system? "Two." Did Kerrigan destroy the turret? "One."

A little of both, as we touch down I can see a pillar of fire emerge from what I assume used to be the missile turret." Anyone alive in there?" The coms crackles one last time before the transmission cuts.

"I'll check on the passengers." I get out of my seat, using the walls as a focal point for my sense of balance. "Everyone still-" My own vomit interrupts me, and these suits aren't equipped to handle it. "Everyone still in one piece?" I don't dare bring my hand up to wipe my mouth, the hydraulics in these suits can easily break bones.

"Don't mind him, he passed out from the action." Graves says patting a limp marine on the shoulder, his visor is down so I can't verify that, and even if I could I can't see properly through the vomit.

"Everyone at the ready, we march immediately."

"I'll need a few soldiers to keep me company while I scope out the damage." Aaila requests over the ship's intercom. "If I need to repair anything, I'm making the Confederates pay for it."

"Three men stay back and bodyguard the pilot, the rest with me." I order. "We move out now." I hope you're nearby Kerrigan, I don't think we're equipped to find you.

Natural light spills into the dropship as the door lowers, Aaila leaves the safety of the cockpit. "Good luck, cowboys." She watches us go. Three soldiers stay behind while we march away from the dropship.

"Where to?" Graves asks, settling into step next to me.

"We find Lieutenant Kerrigan, she has a better grasp on the situation."

"Do we know where she is?"

"Right here." Kerrigan uncloaks in front of us, and I am left speechless. I'm now angry that puke is blocking half of my vision of one of the most beautiful women that I thought they existed on posters and in movies.

Kerrigan scoffs and rolls her eyes. "You're a ghost, aren't you?" My visor blocks how red my cheeks are, but nothing can hide my embarrassment from a ghost.

"Yes." She's already dismissed me as a hopeless smitten man.

I cough in an attempt to recover. "Mengsk told me you'd have more info when we reached the ground."

Kerrigan tosses a holo projector on the ground and a map appears, several red and white spots dotted here and there. "Each one is a base, White is Confederate and red is Antigan."

"That's about as many as I expected." I walk around the projection with my hands behind my back. "Based on the size, is this one the main Antigan military base?"

Kerrigan nods, walking opposite the projection from me. "It's surrounded by a detachment of Alpha squadron, but the antigan's fortifications are on the high ground."

"That would be the ideal location to start the revolution." I put a finger over the dot in question. "provided we can get the Antigan's support."

"I took the pleasure of scouting out each of the bases before you arrived." Kerrigan states. "The Confederates have networked missile turrets around the base, given that it has a starport."

"Have you been able to see what's inside the starport?" It's possible we can get fighters, and having air superiority makes me happy.

"No, I don't know if they have wraiths."

She's still reading my mind, I feel like my privacy is being breached. "Regardless, having the largest military installation on the planet will make taking the rest of the world much easier."

"If I can get into the command center I can take out the confederate officers in command."

"What's stopping you?" I look up from the map.

"The networked missile turrets, the confederates will know I'm there long before I can reach the antigan base."

"You'll need a distraction, which is where we come in."

"Viper gang rules!" Four vultures come flying out from the Dropship's vehicle hatch.

"Which is where they come in." I correct myself. What better way to keep a military unit distracted than with psychopathic Vulture pilots?

"The Viper Gang?" Kerrigan asks with concern.

"Gang Members from Mar Sara, they only ride Vultures and they've been able to successfully race through seven military installations for the fun of it."

"Seven different instances? How incompetent were your men?" Kerrigan scoffs and I give her a blank look. "In the same race?!" She exclaims.

"The only men I had access too were marines, and it's stretching it when I say that we did catch a couple of their number." I explain. "If I had Siege Tanks, now that would have been a different story altogether." If the Confederates didn't abandon my people to the zerg, it would have been a different story.

"You think that they can keep the Confederates distracted long enough for me to get through?" Kerrigan asks doubtfully.

"I don't think, I know they can. Viper Gang! I have something you want to hear." I call out to the vultures.

Only one of them comes to hear me out. "Yes boss?"

"How would you like to maintain that tradition of yours where you race through military bases?" I offer.

"Boys!" The Viper Gang member calls out, and the other vultures fall into line. "Our Magistrate here is letting us race some stiff suits!"

"Yeaaah!" one of them revs the engine.

"I'm going to lead us there, and then start you off."

"I dig it!" More engine revving.

"Are you sure that's a great idea, Magistrate?" Graves asks with great concern.

"The best, as long as the viper gang doesn't turn on us this should be the easiest revolution to kickstart ever." I boast, puffing my chest out, which doesn't translate well in marine armor.

Kerrigan and Graves are both skeptical, and the vulture gang are now racing around us, howling in anticipation.

Author's Notes: Thank you for reading! I don't have much to say other that I'm probably not going to be doing Author's Notes anymore, unless something happens that needs to be said, but other than that I hope you enjoyed and hope you'll stick around!


	6. Chapter 6

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 6: Kickstarting a revolution**

"I was starting to think that there was no military installation." I joke, looking at the captive Antigan base through binoculars.

"And there's their network hub." Kerrigan has her visor down to see with me.

"Which one?" I look away to see where she's pointing. "That's definitely it… how fast would it take us to take it down?"

"I just need to get to it and get out." Kerrigan reassures me, and then moves her visor out of the way. "Are you sure these 'Viper Gang members' can distract the Confederates long enough?"

"With us backing them up? Definitely." I reassure her.

"I have reservations about using gang members." Graves notes.

"Objection noted, but we're what we got." I turn my attention back to the task at hand. "Once the vultures set out I want everyone to charge towards the network tower, once Kerrigan has planted the, explosives?" She nods. "Explosives and falls back I want everyone to fall back."

"What about the Viper Gang?" Kerrigan asks.

"Hopefully I can convince them to not run laps around the installation." I let out a sigh. "I won't be going, I'll be the starting and finishing line for them… we meet back here once everything's said and done. Okay?"

"Yes sir!" both the Sergeant and Lieutenant respond as I walk away.

"I have a race to start." I sigh loud enough for them to hear.

They were lined up before I got there, revving their engines in anticipation. How insane does someone have to be to think that racing through a military installation is a great past time? "One lap, first one to go all the way around the confederate base and get back here is the winner, okay?" I call out setting up a tripod with a close range sensor set up on it.

The pilots roar, waiting for the count down.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

Before I've finished the vultures have taken off. I turn my attention to the close range sensor, watching as the speeding vultures rocket across the radar's screen. My soldiers move out as soon as the screaming vultures speed past them.

It's not long before they get out of range of the sensor, but at least I have a good view of what's going on, the sensor is more for my protection. If there's any Zerg in the area Kaleb and I would be dead before the others could get back, so far nothing's appeared on the sensor that I didn't already know about, and I pray that doesn't change. "Would it be safer to go with the assault?" Kaleb asks, rifle at the ready and aimed at everything.

"And in the line of fire without a weapon? I thought it was your job to keep me safe."

"It is! It's just… if a patrol of Confederates comes by here-"

"If there are any patrols they'd be recalled to aid in the defence of the base, I doubt we'll see anything." I say, gripping the tripod tightly, sharing his concerns but not voicing them.

It's a miracle that the vultures are still alive, I can't see the vultures clearly at this distance without binoculars, but I can see the explosions from the spider mines they're placing.

Not five minutes pass before a larger explosion rocks the ground, the network tower going up in flames. "Everything's up to you, Kerrigan." I say watching the smoke rise from the rubble off in the distance.

The marines come back, minus the Ghost. "Any wounded?" I ask as the troops are placed on the ground.

"One dead and three wounded, the rest have superficial wounds." Graves informs me.

"Hopefully the Antigans have medics." I let out a sigh. "Where're the Viper Gang?"

A single vulture roars to a stop, bike on fire. "I win!" He calls out.

"Get off that thing before it explodes!" Graves barks.

"Hah! If my baby were going to explode it would have done so during the race." The Psychopath says with a grin.

Gunfire off in the distance. The Antigan's have opened fire on the Confederates. "Looks like Kerrigan did it! Once the fighting's died down we'll carry the wounded to our new base of operations." If the Antigan's don't win, then we'll have to retreat to the hyperion, if we still can.

"Can you hear me, Magistrate?" Kerrigan's voice comes over the local comms.

"Loud and clear."

"Move your men in, the Antigan's have the Confederates under control."

"You heard the woman, move!"

The ramp leading up to the Antigan base is heavily guarded with Antigan guards. They salute as we approach. The gunfire is starting to die down. Kerrigan uncloaks at the top. "Good work, Lieutenant." I give her a nod.

"Time for these bastards to pay." Kerrigan gives me a nod in return. "Turn control of the base to the Magistrate." She says into her ear piece.

"Greetings magistrate." The Adjutant greets me.

"Make sure these men get taken care of, I'm going to plan our next move." I tell my officers, walking towards the command center. "If any of our buildings are damaged I want SCV's repairing them, if not I want them getting minerals and vespene."

"Yes, Magistrate."

Finally, the command deck, the door to the AI core has been breached, and there's a bigger mess of wires than there usually is attached to the Adjutant. "Adjutant, get me the Hyperion."

"Transmission starting."

"This is Maxton Dirge, we've successfully taken the main Antigan military installation and are preparing to launch an assault on the remaining Alpha Squadron bases, end-"

Mengsk appears on the holodesk. "Good work magistrate, I have captain Raynor on standby to reinforce your position."

"Half of my men are wounded, dead or tied down so reinforcements would be appreciated."

"Alert, a massive detachment of Alpha squadron has landed on Antiga Prime, five kilometers away from current position." The Adjutant interrupts.

"Define 'massive'." I tell the Adjutant.

"Ten thousand personal."

My eyes bulge. "I don't have the manpower to fend that off!"

"I will dispatch reinforcements immediately, Raynor!"

"What's up?" Raynor joins the transmission.

"Move out immediately, we cannot lose Antiga Prime to Alpha Squadron."

And then from Mengsk's side. "The Norad Two has warped into orbit of Antiga prime."

"Incoming Transmission." My Adjutant pipes up.

"That would be Duke." I sigh. "Patch it through." His face appears on the holo, and he's not happy to see me.

"I knew it, I should have executed you and all of your men back on Mar Sara you son of a bitch." Duke seethes.

"You are as much a traitor as I am, and I would happily put you before the chopping block, Duke."

Duke has a laugh. "You think you stand a chance against the full might of Alpha Squadron?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to force feed you your pride, outlaw."

"Come and get me." I spit at the hologram.

"Transmission finished."

"He sounds serious." Raynor rolls his eyes.

"As far as I know, we don't have any battle cruisers down here to fight the Norad Two." I say as my worry continues to layer on.

"We'll do what we can… hell no." mengsk breathes. "We're picking up Zerg on Antiga Prime, deal with Alpha Squadron first, we'll worry about the Zerg after."

"Transmission finished."

"Just like with Mar Sara." I drop my visor and then rub it with both hands.

"This time you have the Sons of Korhal at your back." Kerrigan enters the room.

I wonder if she was on Mar Sara during the Zerg attack. "What's our first course of action?"

"Are we the only officers?"

"I disposed of them."

"Antigan Officers?"

"Alpha Squadron didn't want them to have leadership."

One of these days I'm going to have officers to confer with. "How much of the planet did you scout?"

"All of it, Magistrate." Kerrigan begins fiddling with the console, bringing up the downed sensor net. "If we can capture a working sensor tower I can tap us into their network."

"Sounds like a priority." I nod in agreement.

"Starport online." The Adjutant says.

"Starport you say." I raise my eyebrows and visor. "What pray tell is in this Starport?"

"Several Wraiths and dropships are awaiting deployment." The Adjutant informs us. "I think we have our Sensor Tower Apprehension Squad." I rub my hands together.

"Warning, a detachment of Alpha squadron has launched from the Norad Two, landing site is less than three kilometers out."

"What about the Hyperion?"

"The Hyperion is moving to engage the Norad Two."

"New priority, we make sure that detachment doesn't make it planetside and if they do, for not very long." I activate the base's speakers. "I want all active wraith Pilots on standby for deployment, we have Confederates dropping down nearby and we're going to roll out the red carpet for them!"

"Lieutenant, take what you need and get us into their network, I have an air raid to coordinate." I don't look, and I don't need to to know that she's already gone.

"This is Wraith one, ready for deployment."

"Wraith two on standby."

"Thought you were rid of me?" Aaila asks jokingly on the coms.

"Wraith Seven on Standby."

Several more Wraiths report for duty. "Adjutant, paint a target on the descending Alpha Squadron forces."

Alpha Squadron appears on the radar with a ring around each dot. "Everything's out of my hands now." I say to myself as the Wraiths take off, three Dropships take off, one of which almost clips the exit to the Starport. "Make sure everything's being maintained, and keep me updated on the Air Raids."

"Yes, Magistrate." The Adjutant's voice echos behind me as I leave the command room. I have a military installation to oversee.

"Everyone buckled back there?" Aaila asks over the dropship's intercom. Eleven marines and Lieutenant kerrigan are on board. Escorting them is two wraiths and another dropship. "Eta to destination is five minutes."

Some of these men were from the magistrates own landing party. "Didn't think I'd miss the banter between the Magistrate and the Pilot." One of them notes.

"They always argued like that?" One of the other soldiers asks him.

"I've only been on two missions with the Magistrate, but yeah."

"Argue?" Kerrigan butts in.

"Yeah, it helped with the nerves knowing that our leader and pilot were both human."

Kerrigan's going to file away that bit of information, it's useless but it tells her about the Magistrate. "You look up to him?"

"He got us through the Mar Sara crisis, I'd follow the Magistrate into Hell if he told me too." The rest of the soldiers from the Magistrate's squad cheer in agreement. Sounds like Kerrigan's own position with mengsk.

"Landing." The dropship shakes as everything comes to a sudden stop. "This is as close as I can get."

"Thank you Pilot." Kerrigan says over the coms.

"I do what I can." There's a crunch just before the ship's coms turn off, the ramp opens and everyone rushes out.

The second dropship is landing close by with another twelve marines, the wraith escorts have set down as well to conserve fuel. "Wraiths fourteen and fifteen, if we need you I'll send a message, otherwise be on standby to defend the dropships."

"Roger Lieutenant."

"Everyone, we're taking that tower!" Kerrigan points past the Dropships and towards a missile turret. "Do not destroy it."

The marines charge past Kerrigan, she cloaks and follows suit. Not only is there a detachment of marines guarding it, but there's also a Goliath. If a ghost wasn't with them, the Goliath would have been a challenge for the marines.

But a well placed EMP round disabled the mech, leaving the Confederate marines without mechanical assistance, and outnumbered. It wasn't even a close fight, the marines tried taking cover behind the Goliath but none of them saw the ghost pull the pull the pin from one of their own grenades.

Somehow the Goliath remains standing, the pilot dead in the dirt closeby with a single bullet hole in the head, couldn't risk anyone getting away and alerting the confederates to the security leak.

"Hey Lieutenant, what do we do with the Goliath?" The marine who says he'd follow the Magistrate to Hell asks.

"Don't know, has the emp worn off yet?" Kerrigan hops into the pilot seat and fiddles with the controls, the Goliath responds to it.

"I'm no genius, but I think it has." The marine calls out sarcastically.

Kerrigan hops out of the mech. "Might as well take it back with us." And without further orders she heads into the missile turret. The good thing about it being automated is that there's no one inside who'll get in the way. And there it is, the control room.

There are a lot of things in here that Kerrigan could fiddle with, the target recognition, the radar, removing it's infernal detection. But unfortunately if she wants her intrusion to go unnoticed when the Confederates come to investigate, she'll have to limit her activities to just the communication console.

The Ghost rips open the bottom of the comms console and reveals a device, cutting wires and feeding them into the device until she can hear the Confederates in her earpiece. "Terrorists spotted by the sector five A missile turret, mobilize and protect the tower!" Excellent, they haven't detected the intrusion.

"I'm detecting several dropships on the way." Aaila warns the squad.

"Perfect." Kerrigan replaces the panel and seals it in place. They'll get suspicious if they find nothing, so Kerrigan reveals some G4, sets the timer for an hour, and places it on top of the communication console. "We got what we came for, pull back to the dropships." She runs for the exit.

"What about the Goliath?"

The Ghost uncloaks in the pilot's seat of the mech in question. "How hard can it be?"

The answer, if your goal is to go straight and do nothing else, easy. To turn around is a whole other issue altogether. "I can't turn this thing, Can you move the Dropship so I can walk it straight in?"

"In the pipe, five by five." Aaila lifts the dropship mere feet from the ground and moves it expertly around without raising the ramp.

Confederate wraiths fly past overhead, followed by explosions on the ground. One of the escort wraiths is already burning. They take off in retaliation. The Goliath fits in the vehicle bay, but not much else is going to fit in there. "Strap yourselves in, we can't stall any longer." The dropships turn around, giving kerrigan the perfect view of seven Confederate dropships landing by their landing zone, and one landing by the missile turret.

"They're retreating! Take that terrorist bitches!" The ramp closes and the dropships take off. Kerrigan rolls her eyes at the insult, they'll be the ones to win this war, and Mengsk will lead them to a glorious future.


	7. Chapter 7

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 7: The Titan**

"Mission accomplished, when we get back I'll tune you into their comms." Kerrigan's voice crackles into existence over the coms.

"Excellent, they won't even know what hit them." I congratulate her.

"We're also bringing back a present, especially for you."

"Oh? I thought it was the man's job to spoil his woman."

"You wish." She scoffs with a laugh before cutting off the transmission.

I turn east with a stupid grin on my face, watching for the dropship in question to appear. The Antigan's around me are bustling with activity, under my supervision no traces of the Confederacy will be left when I'm through with it.

Unfortunately the only thing that was left were the wraiths, hopefully they gave the incoming alpha squadron forces enough pause for reinforcements to arrive, I've yet to see the dropships from the Hyperion and that worries me.

"One Confederate ghost is all it would take, you should take cover in the Command Center." Kaleb tries convincing me.

"Are you kidding? It took Kerrigan less than five minutes to kill every confederate officer in the base, how would I fare any differently if a ghost was sent to kill me?" I scoff at the idea. "I understand you want to keep me safe, but being out here is as safe as being in there, at least when we're talking about ghosts."

"But if we're attacked-"

"I'll head for the safety of the Command center if it's a straight up assault." I reassure the boy. "And you're pink suit will be what's standing between me and any attacking forces."

Kaleb lets out a sigh, for multiple reasons. "Yes sir."

A Dropship all except for crashes onto the tarmac nearby, and I shake my head in response. There's rapid deployment then there's this.

The Marines file off the ramp, but no Kerrigan. "Where's this gift you promised me?" I ask on the coms, knowing that she's listening.

The ramp drops to the vehicle bay, the door opens and out comes a Goliath. "Oh you really shouldn't have." I joke.

"I knew you'd like it."

"And now you can be on the front lines despite your asthma." Kerrigan, the beautiful ghost that she is, hops out of the cockpit.  
"No." Kaleb sounds mortified. "That's-no!"

"Don't mind him, he's got crippling paranoia." I approach the goliath. "It's in one piece?"

"I hit it with an EMP round, the Pilot panicked." Kerrigan gives me a shrug.

"Sounds like a Cadet, but you won't hear me complain." Kerrigan moves out of the way so that I can climb into the cockpit. "Watch me fall over."

"I thought that Goliaths had a balance regulator?"

"Watch me find a way." I joke, settling into the seat. "Huh."

"Thought it would be luxurious?" Kerrigan teases.

"No, I thought it would be rougher." I answer honestly. "Which one of these is the 'go forward' button?"

"Don't you learn how to drive?"

"Everything's automated, never had to."

I hesitantly push forward on the controls, and the cockpit violently lurches down. "Magistrate!?" Kaleb screams.

"I'm alright, jeez all I did was look down." I chastise the boy. "Some help, Lieutenant?"

"Slider to your left, it controls your acceleration."

The Goliath lurches forward, and then slows until a reverse as I mess with the slider. Why are there so many buttons? There can't be too- "There's a mini fridge in here!" This isn't your run of the mill Goliath, it's a customized Goliath. I hope.

The door swings open at my feet, leaving me dumbfounded. Held in place are several cases of alcoholic beverages. "Someone get these drinks out of my sight!" I'm not going to touch them, I don't want to be tempted with popping one and end up so drunk I end up in a Confederate prison in a separate solar system, in yet another uniform.

Kerrigan steps up and wordlessly plucks them from the fridge, dropping them to the ground and letting them smash to pieces. I have no idea how my life wasn't ruined by waking up in this uniform with a hangover, but I don't want to chance it again. I rest my head in my hands, eyes shut tight so I don't have to look at the potential life ending substance.

"They have been removed." Lieutenant Kerrigan informs me.

"Thank you Lieutenant." I straighten my uniform and clear my throat. "We will talk later, Telepath."

"Yes, Magistrate." Kerrigan stands at attention. Kaleb looks back and forth between us, confused.

"Sons of Korhal Reinforcements are about to make landfall." The Adjutant pipes up in my earpiece.

"Hopefully they don't shoot the Goliath." I change the subject. "Make sure they know that the Goliath has been apprehended by Lieutenant Kerrigan and that I'm currently piloting it."

"Yes magistrate, the wraiths are retreating for repairs."

"Kaleb! We have to be here to greet the new soldiers, can you make sure the wraiths get top priority on repairs?"

"Yes Magistrate!" Kaleb salutes and sprints off at max speed.

"Nice kid." Kerrigan notes.

"Bit of a killjoy, but I agree."

The first dropship drops it's ramp and out comes a familiar vulture. "We heard you could use some help." Raynor stops in front of the Goliath. "Nice ride, mine's better."

"You can keep your death trap, I'll take a reliable mech anyday." I joke.

Kerrigan comes around the Goliath. "Captain Raynor, I've tapped us into the Confederate communications- You pig!"

"What?" Raynor throws his arms out. "I haven't even said anything to you yet." His first mistake, and I chuckle at it.

"Yeah, but you were thinking it."

"Oh." He's now realizing it. "Yeah, you're a telepath." Raynor takes a breath. "Let's just get on with this okay?"

"Not his fault you're gorgeous." I chuckle, earning myself a venomous glare from the Lieutenant. Back on topic. "What do you know of the current situation?"

"I know that Duke's sending more troops planetside, and we're here to offset that total." Raynor says as more soldiers pour out of the dropships, integrating themselves with

"Okay." I lean back in my leather seat, tappin the ridge of my nose with my fingers in thought. Of course with Kerrigan listening in.

The lieutenant coughs, confirming what I already knew. "A bit risky, but it can work." She mulls over my plan.

"Raynor, the two of us are going to assault the main Alpha squadron base, The Lieutenant-"

"I know." She cloaks, and leaves with my absolute faith in her.

"Where's she going?"

"Going to muster more manpower to tighten the pincer grip we're going to have on Duke's forces." I pull the Goliath's nose back up and put the mini fridge away. "Adjutant, once the wraiths are repaired I want air superiority around Duke's base."

"Yes, Magistrate."

"Oh, and has Kerrigan gotten around to tapping you into Confederate Communications yet?"

"Yes, Magistrate."

"Monitor their movement and keep us informed." I turn the torso, but not the legs. "You wouldn't happen to know how to rotate the legs, would you?" I ask Raynor.

"Nope, see you out on the battlefield, Magistrate." Jimmy gives me a mock salute, and then takes off on his Vulture leaving me fumbling with the controls.

I crest the hill in the Goliath, the carriage doesn't shake much with each step like I was afraid of. The frontline is spayed out in front of me. "Transmission from the Hyperion." The Adjutant speaks through the Goliath's communication console.

"Patch it through." When nothing happens I hit transmit and repeat myself.

"Increasing Zerg forces have forced us away from the Norad Two, you won't have anymore support until we deal with our mutual friend."

"Understood, we've received reinforcements and are marching on to Alpha Squadron's main base with airborne Wraith support, once we're done here I'll route what's left to aid the Hyperion." I'm just praying that we don't need the Lieutenant to continue the push, but if Alpha Squadron rallies we'll need all the firepower available.

You can see the bullets flying in the air with how many's being exchanged, I can see vultures battling it out in no-man's land. My hands shake, is this how the soldiers feel? It's one thing to watch from the distance, but…

I press on, almost unable to. This time I'll be participating with the troops, it's something I've dreamed of doing when I was given live-fire training, but it was one of those things where you think it's impossible to accomplish.

Wraiths speed past overhead in a cutthroat dogfight. Automatically my Goliath locks onto a couple, but they're my spacecraft. "Adjutant, can you change the targeting of my Goliath?"

"Direct access required."

"That's a no then, hm."

The air is lit up with flak and rockets as anti air is set up on both sides of the conflict. I reach the frontline. "Goliath!" A marine shouts.

"Put down your weapons, this is your Magistrate!" I bark into the coms, warily the marines lower their guns, much to my relief.

I turn the chassis and lean out the side, an audible sigh is heard from the soldiers. "Sorry sir, we're stretched thin."

"What about the Reinforcements we got from the Hyperion?"

"Wouldn't be possible without them, sir."

I turn my attention to the no-man's land between us, I'm in clear view of the otherside. A pair of Goliaths are charging across the battlefield. "Look alive!" I bark, pulling myself back into the seat and fumble with the controls a moment as I try to remember what does what. Thankfully it's not as hard as I thought it would have been.

"Deploying Anti armor!" A marine shouts as he sets aside his rifle and places his pack. The Goliaths open fire on them and two of the nearby marines go down instantly.

I maneuver my Goliath to shield them as best I can, and return fire with the single machinegun.

The Confederate mechs pause as I open fire, then turn their legs back and sprint back for the safety of their line. "The Goliath's are retreating, but keep that anti armor deployed soldier." I tell the anti armor entrenchment.

"Yes Magistrate!" Several marines jump behind the sandbags, refilling the frontlines.

Wraiths roar overhead, battling with one another. "Get some missile turrets online to help our air support!"

I Turn the chassis to look up, with how fast they're going it's hard to tell which one is one of my Wraiths, but the Goliath's targeting system helps me out.

"Antigan Wraith locked on." The Goliath informs me.

"I need an engineer!" I bark falling back and breaking the lock.

As I retreat an SCV rushes up. "Need something?" Simmons asks.

"Simmons!" I say glad to see him. "The Goliath's Targeting system needs changing, it's still a Confederate."

"If you take it to a Supply depot I can easily fix that." Simmons leads the way.

And back into a marine suit I go. A dropship touches down and a fresh arrival of marines and vultures rush out of the dropship, lead by a familiar pink marine.

Kaleb spots my white armor and sprints over. "Magistrate!" He shouts relieved.

"What? Did you think I was going to throw myself at the Confederates if you weren't here?" I accuse him.

"No." Kaleb retorts offended. "I'm a…. Worry wort." He adds defeated, and I laugh at his expense.

"I'm no soldier, but I'm also not a Viper Gang Member." Speaking of which off in the distance I can see a vulture do a backflip and take the rider of a confederate vulture off, and then plant a Spidermine on top of a second vulture. "I don't think anyone can top a Viper Gang vulture bike rider." I shake my head in amazement.

Flak starts lighting up the sky, whoever wins the air game will end the stalemate on the ground. We're receiving reinforcements as fast as they are.

At least until the Zerg arrived. Airborn zerg flood the skies, fast as lightning. A Battlecruiser breaks through the cloud cover and opens bombardment on the battlefield, cleaving through the Zerg and striking the no man's land.

"Is that the Hyperion?" I can hear Raynor's voice crackle from a nearby coms console.

"I hope so." I reply.

"Magistrate!"

"Howdy Raynor, until we know for sure I'm going to ask that every vulture fall back outside of the firing zone, the blast zone is too close for comfort."

"I hear ya, Magistrate's ordering a retreat!" The Viper Gang and Raynor break off from their battle with the Confederate bikes and rush back, battlecruiser fire raining down around them.

The Battlecruiser's bombardment takes a shift in our direction. "That's not the Hyperion, Take cover!" I shout, making a run for the supply depots.

Explosions all around as the enormous laser batteries bombard the area, tearing holes into the ground around us.

"Magistrate!" A rock is dislodged as an explosion rips apart the ground and plows into my helmet. If I wasn't wearing this suit I'd be dead.

"I'm fine." I let my bodyguard pull me to my feet and usher me onward. Everything's a blur from the sudden movement.

My breathing becomes labored and I nearly lose my footing as we transition from soil to concrete. "How many times have I told you to not be out on the frontlines!?" Kaleb yells at me.

I reach into my pack and pull out my inhaler, if I accidentally crush it I will die here. "Asthma attack!?" Kaleb panics.

I pop my visor open, already my face is turning blue. As careful as possible I hold the tiny device to my mouth and inhale while pressing down.

And crush it, but one press was enough to give some relief. "I'll live." I croak, dropping the now useless inhaler on the ground. "You win, Kaleb." I can't even sigh without coughing.

"Does that mean you'll stay back and observe from the safety of a Command center?" Kaleb asks cautiously.

"There's no Command center out here Kaleb." I inform him.

"Someone inform the Magistrate that his Goliath's targeting system is now reconfigured." Simmon's voice rings through the speakers in the supply depots.

"I can finally get out of this and sit in my comfy seat."

The supply depot shakes as it comes under direct fire. "Unknown aerial Zerg Biosignature's detected." The Adjutant warns the entire frontline.

"Great, another type of Zerg, I guess three wasn't enough." I let out a sigh.

"We're not going anywhere for awhile." Kaleb tells me. "Where are you going?"

"Just to the edge, I need to see what's going on."

"A direct hit from a laser battery and you're dead."

"The chances of that are nonexistent." I scoff, watching as missiles and flak are stopped from getting close to the Norad Two by the sheer number of Zerg in the air, some zerg break off and assault the anti air. "Turn off the Anti Air, it's angering the Zerg and they're preoccupied with the Norad Two."

The Wraiths are nowhere to be seen, either the Zerg as so dense up there that they can't be seen, they fell back, or they've been destroyed. I hope for the best.

A series of Dropships arrive and more troops charge out to reinforce the line. Just because there's Zerg in the air doesn't mean we've stopped shooting at the Confederates.

The fighting stops abruptly as an explosion tears through the air. Eyes are turned skyward as the Norad comes down, with a massive hole in the side. More of those holes are appearing and I stand there in amazement. The Zerg destroyed a battlecruiser an hour after showing up, how are we going to beat them if they have that kind of firepower?

Not a shot is fired as the Norad Two falls from the sky, behind Confederate lines. Once it crashes in the distance there is a cheer from the soldiers and the fighting resumes with newfound courage. "The Confederates are finished here." I tell Kaleb.

"Duke isn't the only General." Kaleb informs me.

"No, but he's the only one that's here."

"What the hell?" Kaleb asks watching the bulk of our reinforcements arrive. Coming off of the first dropship is Lieutenant Kerrigan.

"Looks like she did it, faster than I thought possible as well." My respect for the ghost keeps going up. "Don't just stand there gawking at angelic beauty, let's go say hello." I half joke, leaving the shelter of the Supply Depot.

"Mission complete." Kerrigan salutes.

"Great job." I say with a grin. "I was expecting you to be out for days, not an hour or so." My voice slowly returns to normal.

"Duke pulled back every soldier to reinforce against you." More dropships land, and more soldiers pour out.

"With the Zerg's appearance, we're going to need every body we can, Someone get some barracks up!" I shout at a disembarking SCV.

"Roger!"

"We should report to mengsk."

"As soon as we can."

Back in the Goliath, with Kerrigan leaning next to the cockpit and Raynor leaning up against a leg. "Mengsk, can you read?" I ask on the coms. A pit rising in my stomach.

"All our sensors are picking up are Zerg, what's going on down there?" Mengsk asks.

"The Norad Two made an appearance and suppressed us for awhile, but the Zerg's appearance has made it crash."

Mengsk is silent for awhile. "I want you to check for survivors."

` "Excuse me?" Raynor sputters.

"If Duke is alive we can rescue him and force him to work for us."

"I am not taking orders from him." I take a metaphorical stance.

"I'm not asking you to, Magistrate." Mengsk yields. "I'm asking you to get mengsk, and bring him in. He knows how the Confederacy much better than any of us combined, we need the information and experience he has."

"Yes, sir."

"Hyperion out."  
"So… how're we doing this partner?" Raynor asks me.

"There's no way we can push the Zerg back, not with how little we know about them… So we'll make a push and deploy soldiers along the path to keep the way out clear while we evacuate as many as we can from the Norad Two."

"Our mission is to evacuate Duke." Kerrigan reminds me.

"I know, but there's no way I'm leaving anyone for the Zerg to butcher if I can help it." I inform her.

"I'll get some men together while you two sort out the logistics." Raynor walks out of the Supply depot.

"If you know anything about the Zerg, now's the time to share." I tell Kerrigan. We can talk about the beer once we're back on the Hyperion.


	8. Chapter 8

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 8: Fall of Alpha Squadron**

"An ever changing species that originates from larvae from hatcheries… Are you sure it's just one type of larvae?" I hit some buttons and the Goliath powers up.

"I'm positive, they do something to the larvae to force them to undergo a metamorphosis and become any of the creatures we've seen, and maybe more." Kerrigan hops off the Goliath as it stands to its full height.

"That's disconcerting, we won't know what's being raised until they hatch."

"They hatch as adults."

"Any more good news?"

"They're self propagating from what I've seen."

That was a given as they don't seem to have a mating cycle, but I sigh nonetheless. "Let's see if we can get Alpha Squadron to surrender, and then we'll move onto Norad two."

"What'll we do with the prisoners?"

"I'll need you and Raynor to watch them while I take a few dropships and conscript some additional firepower to rescue duke."

"Receiving transmission." The adjutant informs me.

Before I can say anything the message plays. "This is General Duke calling from Alpha Squadron Flagship Norad Two! We've crash-landed and are being hit hard by the Zerg!"

"Serves you right, you snake." I snarl. "But I'll do the one thing you wouldn't do for me, and that's haul your hide out of the firing line."

"What am I to do if the officers refuse or start planning an uprising?"

"Kill them." I order without hesitation. "It's time to issue Alpha squadron's ultimatum." Duke's message is still playing, but I've put it on the backburner in my mind.

I walk the Goliath out of the Supply depot and into the fire. The Zerg's ground forces have arrived and defences have been set up accordingly. Most of these men and women are from Mar Sara, we know what to expect.

Looking back Kerrigan isn't there anymore, now's not the time to think about what the Angel is doing. "Adjutant, I want to transmit to what's left of the Alpha squadron base." Bullets ricochet off the bulletproof glass of the cockpit. "And doubletime it."

"Transmitting."

"Alpha squadron this is Maxton Dirge of the Sons of Korhal, the Zerg close in around you, your flagship has crashed, and we will be marching through your lines, surrender and you will not be harmed and we will not only allow you to mount a rescue on your General, but we will also aid you in rescuing him. Now's not the time for a last stand, think of your friends and families you want to see once again. Most of us here were on Mar Sara when the Zerg attacked, we know how to hold them off and how to rescue people while under constant siege, make the right choice."

"Transmission finished."

"I want all personal to stop firing at the Alpha Squadron base, we're giving them five minutes before resuming our push."

The various officers sound off their acknowledgement and crossfire stops, instead turning focus to the Zerg. I turn the Goliath to face the east where the Zerg are piling in from, ready to provide mech support if needed.

"Incoming transmission from the remnants of the Alpha squadron base."

"This is Captain Horace Fisher of Alpha Squadron." There is a brief pause. "We surrender and accept your conditions, over."

"Transmission over."

"Magistrate!" Kaleb runs up to the mech. "You're not thinking about leading the charge, are you?"

"I am."

"But…" He lets out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, just doing my job and trying to keep you safe, but you keep making that… I hope Mengsk won't see it as me shirking my duties."

"That's the spirit!" I turn the goliath back to the Alpha Squadron base. "Time to get ourselves some prisoners." I start marching the mech forward.

Raynor's Vulture sidles up with Kerrigan decloaking behind him on the death trap. Soldiers gather around us, shooting at the nearby Zerg that attempt to charge us.

I aid as much as I can, but I can't help but feel like I'm just wasting ammo more than helping the trained men who're used to doing this for a living. We're greeted by who I assume is horace, and some of his men. "Which one of you is Maxton?" Horace asks.

"Right here, put your weapons on the ground." With some hesitance the welcoming committee lowers their weapons to the ground. "Good to see that you were serious about the surrender."

Horace laughs hollowly. "We're surrounded on all sides by either Zerg or Sons of Korhal and our flag ship crashed into the midsts of Zerg forces, and you expect us to continue fighting?"

"Yes."

"Fair assumption." Horace shrugs.

"What's the plan?" Raynor asks me.

I turn the mech to the Norad Two. It's not that far out, and the ground isn't covered in purple goop yet, the Zerg must be in the process of surrounding them. "What hardware do you have available, captain?"

"Goliath's, vultures, firebats and marines." The captain helpfully informs us.

"Why can't you be like him?" I jokingly ask Kaleb, who sputters in reply. "Three dropships of marines and Goliaths, then we clear the way to properly extract the general."

"What about the swarm above us?" Horace points out.

"Missile turrets, lots of them."

"What about wraiths?" Raynor asks.

"No, the skies are definitely not in our favor and using what few wraiths we have against a sea of death in the skies is a good way of losing what air superiority we could have in future battles."

"Understood, Kerrigan and I'll hold down the fort while you get the Snake."

"I'm going to ask for access to your adjutant unit, captain." I turn my attention to the Alpha Squadron commander.

"Adjutant, turn over all command to Sons of Korhal Commander Maxton Dirge, confirm."

"Confirmation required."

"Confirm."

"Confirmation accepted, Commander Maxton Dirge."

"Title change, Magistrate."

"Title change accepted, Magistrate Maxton." And just like that I'm in command of all of the Alpha Squadron forces on Antiga prime, practically.

"You still think of yourself as Magistrate after siding with the Sons of Korhal?" Horace asks skeptically.

"Who surrendered here?" I question the convict, getting a sigh in reply. "Keep that in mind."

Horace wants to keep talking, but his common sense is keeping him from doing so. "Adjutants, connect networks and send over three dropships… If we're fast enough we'll be done here before the Zerg realize that there's nothing to chew on."

"This is Graves, sending transports of marines now."

"Thank you Sergeant." I watch as a missile turret is dive bombed by a zerg flier and explodes in a fiery ball of acid. "They realized that we're shooting at them, Redouble anti air efforts!" I aim upwards and let the Goliath's missile targeting take care of the rest as missile after missile launches upward and into the sky, explosions of blood and acid pop in the air. This is a war for survival now.

"Strap yourselves in boys!" The Dropships arrive, several troops sprint off as others spring on, eager to start the extraction.

Once the troops are loaded the ramps drop so that the Goliaths can enter the vehicle bays, myself included. "Once more, we're dropping off at the top of the cliffs and we're going to push in until we get visual confirmation on the survivors, once they've been evacuated we'll hold out long enough for extraction." I repeat myself for the third time, my hands starting to shake with anticipation, but not with confidence.

"Don't worry, even if we're ordered by Mengsk I'll come back for you." Aaila says playfully on the coms.

"Die on the field or die in a ship, great options." A smile tugs on my lips.

"Oh stop being such a downer!"

The red light flashing in the bay isn't helping my nerves, I reach into my jacket pocket for my replacement inhaler and take a preemptive wiff. Better now than on the battlefield.

"First time on the frontline?" One of the Goliath pilots asks off the coms.

"I've been on the frontlines, but not in the fight itself." I admit.

"Military training?"

"I know how to lead a force, but that's about it."

"Really?" Another pilot pipes up.

"Really, really."

"Once we drop, form a defensive perimeter around the Magistrate."

"Don't you hate me?"

"Yeah, but we don't want to be blamed for doing nothing while you die after we surrendered."

"Ha, ha." I roll my eyes, unamused.

"Zerg forces spotted, initiating hot drop." There's a loud hissing sound.

"Make sure you're strapped in."

"Why wouldn't I be- AAAAAHHHHH!" The floor gives way as we're airdropped onto the battlefield. Oh we are high up, no waythat oursuspension isgoing toholdweregoingtosplatonthegroundandallthatwillremainofusisaredstain-

We hit the ground, the legs of my Goliath buckle as the shock absorbers take the brunt of the force, but I'm alive. "We're alive?" I take a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself as the other Goliaths form a circle, shooting at the incoming Zerg.

Under the left foot of my Goliath is a crushed Zergling. I can hear shouting and gunfire all around me as all attempts to remain calm fail, my heartrate skyrockets as I blindly shoot at the Zerg structures, one of which is shooting a spine into the ground and erupting it too close for comfort. One of the goliaths has a leg taken out by the ground spike, the pilot bails as the mech shifts to autopilot.

Calm down. A jolt goes through my system, shocking me out of my panic, but by just. Calm down. A second jolt as my senses come back to me, the Norad Two! our objective is in sight.

"Magistrate!" I can finally hear my fellow pilots.

"Push! We need to secure a path for the dropships!" I order, pushing ahead slowly.

Behind us the dropships land, depositing marines and firebats to aid in the push. "Corridor secure." A marine salutes me as lines are set up, keeping the Zerg at bay.

"Good work, let's go inform the general of his surrender before the Zerg decide that we look like tasty."

"Suicide bombers!" Zerg fliers ram the ground, acid exploding all around.

"We're running out of time, move!" I'm the first onto the dropship, I can't wait to see the look on Duke's face when he sees that it's the rebels coming to his aid. Let alone the ones he abandoned. "We don't have all day, move it!"

Marines file onto the other dropships, enough to protect me but not enough to leave the corridor without defenders. The fighting gets farther away, it seems like Duke's forces are taking it easy.

We're greeted by what's left of the defenders, cracked helmets and ruined suits. How these men are still holding is a miracle in of itself. My local comms unit crackles. "Incoming global transmission."

"You're about the last folk I expected to show up, what's your angle, Mengsk?" The General's voice is shaky, but not because of him. With how he sounds I'm surprised that his communications array is still functioning.

"We're here to get you out of dodge, Duke." I answer.

"Max is that you?"

"Why're you surprised? You knew I was planetside." I clear my throat, walking my goliath into the Norad Two's wreck.

"Here to kill me yourself I assume."

"You wish." I respond with a laugh. "No, we have something different in mind." I take the general's silence as a go ahead. "The Confederacy is falling apart, Antiga Prime isn't the only colony ready for open rebellion and the Zerg are rampaging across the worlds unchecked."

"Your point?"

"And what would have happened had we decided to leave you here for them?" I think I'm enjoying this position of power too much, turnabout is fair play.

"We're giving you a choice." Mengsk rudely interrupts my moment. "You can return to the Confederacy and lose, or you can join us and help save our entire race by being overrun by the Zerg, I don't think it's a difficult decision."

Wow, I thought I was pushing it with the scare tactics. "Join forces, with you? I'm a general!" Duke sounds offended by the thought.

"A general without an army, I'm offering you a position in my cabinet, not a post on some backwater planet, Edmund."

Wait a moment. I stop my goliath dead in its tracks.

"Alright… you got a deal." Duke sighs in defeat.

"You made the right choice, General Edmund."

"Pleasure working with you, General." I furrow my brow, second in command, that is quite the promotion.

Nearby elevators open and people flood out, wounded. Not even a quarter of them are soldiers. "Raynor, I may need backup in the corridor."

"What's up?"

"There's a lot more survivors than I thought there would be, plenty wounded as well… The evacuation will take more than one trip."

"What about Duke?"

"He survived, unfortunately." I joke.

"Damn right I did." Speak of the devil and he will appear. "You're not one of my Goliaths, who's in there?"

I lean out the side. "Hello, Duke."

"You came in person, Max?" He blinks in surprise. "Today is full of surprises."

I hop out of the Goliath, the general is in a marine suit so he towers over me, but I don't care. "Let's get one thing straight here: I won't take orders from you, only from Mengsk, okay?" I point a finger at him. "I don't care if you've been promoted to Mengsk's Second in command, after leaving us to die on Mar Sara you lost all right to boss me, and the people of Mar Sara, around."

He looks down at me with contempt, contemplating his choices. He's clearly thinking about killing me here and now, we're surrounded by his men, but they're surrounded by the Zerg. "Fine, captain."

"Magistrate." I correct him.

"After siding with the Sons of Korhal?" He laughs as if it were a joke.

"Mengsk agreed to letting me keep the title." I state climbing back into the goliath. "As much as I would love to fight with you until the sun explodes, we don't have that much time… You get to get out of here in first class aren't you lucky?"

And by first class, I mean with the ex shuttle pilot. I watch the first dropships take off. Five hundred people that need evacuating.

Wait a moment… is that the sky? I was starting to think that it was a myth! "Aaila you have with you the General himself, why not show him what you can do?"

"I thought you hated my method of flying?"

"This time is an exception, have to get him out of here fast after all." I can't help but grin.

Zerglings charge down the ramp, the two bunkers that the remnants of Alpha Squadron have set up repel the attack. Spines hit the Goliath's armor and stick. "On the ridge!" I shout turning the goliath around and return fire. Several other goliaths join me in clearing the ridge.

"Mutalisks!" A marine calls out as zerg fliers strafe the crater. So that's what their names are. The Goliath's missile targeting locks onto the Mutalisks and with a button press I'm now contributing to the anti air effort. The dropships leave our view.

"How's the corridor?"

"Holding, but the Zerg are not happy with us here."

"Figured that one out, how long can you hold?"

"Long enough, I hope."

"I hope?"

"The skies are clearing, but that's not because of our AA."

If we're not killing them off, then where are the Zerg fliers going? My long range communicator crackles to life. "Magistrate another Battlecruiser has just warped in, Delta Squad is heading planetside." Mengsk warns.

"We need to hurry! Confederate forces are arriving and I don't want us surrounded by two enemy forces."

"This is Kerrigan, Duke has arrived at the base and has announced that Alpha Squadron is now joining the Sons of Korhal as part of the surrender."

"Keep an eye on him, if he tries anything don't hesitate to put a bullet in his head."

"Understood."

"Oh and Kerrigan…"

"Yes?"

"... Nevermind."

The coms are cut, the dropships return for the second round of evacuees. Zerg fliers bombard the wreck of the Norad Two. "Are the guns on the Norad functional?" I ask a nearby soldier.

"The ship is barely functioning as is."

"That doesn't answer the question." Better question. "Does the Norad Two have an onboard Adjutant?"

"What capitalship doesn't?"

"Is it work-agh!" A flier rams into the cockpit with an acidic explosion, knocking the goliath over.

My ears are ringing, I can barely hear anything. The carriage protected me from most of the blast, but now the reinforced glass is melting. I have to get out before the acid drips onto me. It takes a moment, but I manage to unbuckle myself and crawl out the side and into the arms of waiting marines. "Get him on the dropship!"

I let myself be ushered towards safety. "If the Adjutant is operational, I want it to turn what guns it can on auto, targeting zerg forces only."

"Yes sir!" I make my way to the dropship's cockpit.

"You look beat." Aaila greets me as I settle in the chair next to her.

"Tell me about it."

"You look beat." She repeats with a chuckle.

"Ha, ha." I close my eyes, how long has it been since I've slept. "How was transporting the general?"

"It was alright, had some suicide bombers chasing us which wasn't fun."

"Anyone die?"

"Not yet, hang on." We spin forty five degrees to the side, narrowly dodging a suicide bomber kareening past. "They've seen us and think we look tasty." Aaila tells her fellow pilots.

"We can see, don't go too extreme, you have civilians in your vehicle bay."

"I let them in, don't think I'd forget about my own passengers." Aaila grumbles.

These evasive maneuvers lasted for thirty minutes as we crossed over No man's land, suicide bombers and Mutalisks trying their best, but once the friendly anti air started firing it was a smooth flight.

After what feels like an eternity the dropship lands behind friendly lines, the white of Alpha Squadron is being replaced by the red of the Sons of Korhal. "Magistrate!" Kaleb sprints up in greeting. "What happened to the goliath?"

"Trashed, a suicide bomber went straight into it." I say, distressing my bodyguard further. "As bodyguard I am restricting you to the Command Center until further notice."

I let out a yawn. "Can that restriction be gone tomorrow?"

"No."

"We'll talk more tomorrow, Pinkie." I let him usher me to the safety of the Command Center. "If Kerrigan or Raynor want to see me, let them, if Duke wants to see me tell him to take a hike."

"What about mengsk?"

"Let him in, he is the head of the Sons of Korhal afterall."

And already in the Communications room is Edmund Duke himself. We look at one another for a moment. "I don't have the patience to 'speak' with you." I wave him off and continue to the officer quarters.


	9. Chapter 9

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 8: Second verse, same as the first**

"It is now Six, AM, Antiga Prime Central Time." My personal Adjutant wakes me up.

"Has the base burned down while I was out?" I wipe the sleep from my eyes.

"No Magistrate."

"Good." He's not as incompetent as I thought. I turn on the sink and take out a tooth brush. "How went the evacuation of the Norad Two?"

"Thirty seven casualties, dropship included."

I take a deep breath. Thirty seven, it would have been higher had we not stepped in and lent our ships, and to think I wouldn't have went to save them if I wasn't ordered too, all because of my disdain of the general. "Status report on the base." I spit the toothpaste out with the bad feelings.

"In the process of evacuating, General Duke's orders are to fall back to the Antigan base for an easily defensible location."

"We need to change positions to protect the civilians, with Zerg on the world the settlements will be overrun without our aid, send a message to Mengsk for me." I say, rinsing the last of the toothpaste out.

"Recording."

"This is Maxton, as you've probably heard we've succeeded in securing Edmund Duke, as requested." I clear my throat. "However I request that we evacuate the Antigan's from the planet before the Zerg spread all over, I don't want a repeat of Mar Sara and I know you don't want that either."

"Message sent, will await response."

Kaleb is waiting for me outside the door. "Huh?" He snaps alert, pushing himself away from the wall.

"Sleeping on the job?" I tut. "What if some assassin snuck in while you were sleeping?"

"We're in the middle of our base." he says sheepishly.

"Oh, so now the base is the safest place on Antiga prime?" I tease.

I chuckle softly as Kaleb accompanies me out of the Command Center. "Have you been paying attention to the happenings around the base?"

"I'm not a secretary."

"Fair enough, I'll have to get one then."

"Morning Magistrate!" Raynor's Vulture comes to a stop in front of me, I have to shield my eyes to protect from the dirt that's kicked up.

"Captain, how's it going?"

"Word of Alpha Squadron's defeat is making the rounds and people are cheering." He hops off his vehicle.

"I don't want anyone harassing Alpha Squadron, understand?"

"Didn't they leave you for dead on Mar Sara?" Raynor asks curiously.

"Yes, but we don't need infighting, that can wait until we're off world, for now we work with Alpha Squadron… at least until the Zerg aren't an immediate issue then you can insult them as much as you want."

"Motion alert, Zerg assault force enbound."

Collectively we look up at the loudspeaker. "I want every able body deployed now." I tell the captain.

"Yes sir!" Raynor hops back onto his bike and speeds off.

"Where're you going!?" Kaleb demands.

"The perimeter, we're in the safest location on the planet."

"When we're not about to come under assault!"

"With the Zerg involved and no natural barriers between us and them, no place is safe." I say and Kaleb hails a car so I'm not running around risking the chance of an episode.

"How far out?" I approach Graves, even from this distance I can see the waves of purple coming towards us.

"Few miles, minimum, was this what it was like on Mar Sara?"

"Yes, there was no ground to see, and now we won't be able to see the blue sky." My gaze turns skyward. There are some zerg fliers, but I know that the swarm is coming. We can't have a repeat of Mar Sara. Down at the base of the cliff is a gang of Vultures, laying spidermines in the path of the Zerg. "We can't hold this position." I say in finality.

Graves opens his mouth, closes it, thinks, and then opens it again. "Why's that?"

"We're too open out here, the Zerg fliers will strafe us until we can't hold back their grounded counterparts, you saw what they did to the Norad Two."

The Sergeant nods. "What do you propose we do? Lay down our arms and welcome death?" He says playing the devil's advocate.

"Concentrate all forces at Andasar City and do what we can until we can leave safely."

"You want us to leave our plateau location, and move to a flat and open plains?" Graves looks at me like I've gone insane.

"What cover do we have against the suicide flying Zerg?" I counter. "We had to overbuild Anti Air to clear a hole in the skies, and that was without their ground forces breathing down our necks. At least in Andasar City we can have forces occupying the perimeter skyscrapers and set up anti air with relative protection."

"The people of Mar Sara are yours to command, Magistrate." Graves stands at attention.

I let out a sigh. "Why can't you be like him?" I point at the sargent, looking at my bodyguard.

Kaleb lets out a groan as I continue to tease him. "Did the Zerg send everything at us?" He asks.

"Look over there, what do you see exactly?" I point away from the incoming Zerg.

Kaleb strains his eyes, trying to see what I'm pointing out. "All I see is desert." he finally admits.

"Commander Mengsk is calling for a meeting of all senior officers." The Adjutant informs me.

"That answers your question, and if you don't mind I have a meeting to attend, make sure everyone's packed and ready to go Sergeant."

"Yes sir."

I'm not alone, Raynor's bike is already parked on the ramp in the Command Center. "Now's not a good time." I announce entering the comms room. "The Zerg are on their way now, it's only a matter of time until we're overrun."

Duke, Kerrigan and Mengsk are on holo screens, Raynor and I are in person. "We'll be gone by the time that happens." Duke assures us. I see he's already planning to leave us behind, again.

"I've got worse news, Delta Squad has warped into orbit, no doubt responding to Duke's emergency transmission, and is searching for the Norad Two." Mengsk informs us.

"It won't be long until they find the wreck, and then they'll look for us."

"Hey Raynor, you hear that?" I look over my shoulder.

"Hear what?"

"Dunno, I thought I heard something." I straighten my collar. "If Delta Squadron is going to be gunning for us as well, we need to regroup, there's no way we can fight on every front against two enemies if we're split up. Like this."

"I assume you've already come up with an ideal location for us to defend?"

I nod. "Andasar City, not only is it the largest civilian settlement in need of protection, but we can set up anti air in the sky scrapers and see for miles in every direction."

"Andasar City, we'll need to import minerals and vespene in order to stay in the city." Mengsk strokes his beard thoughtfully.

"They should have a stockpile somewhere in the city, it's one of the many regulations I had to learn competing to be magistrate."

"You compete to be Magistrate?" Kerrigan pipes up.

"Kinda, a pool is elected by the people and then they compete amongst each other to prove that they're the most capable out of the rest before a final election."

"Zerg forces have met the defenders." The Adjutant pipes up.

"We should leave while we have the chance, before Delta Squadron can Pin us down." Duke casually throws out there.

"And abandon the people?!" Raynor shouts.

"I'm not leaving these people, Duke." I say through clenched teeth.

Mengsk sighs. "They're right, the Zerg are savage and will render the planet a lifeless husk, we have to get as many as we can offworld before we can think of leaving." He continues with certainty and confidence.

"Alright, I can see when I'm beat." Duke relents. "What are we doing?"

"I'll route as much as I can to Andasar city, Kerrigan find this stockpile the Magistrate was talking about."

"Roger."

"Duke I want you and Raynor to take your forces around the planet, rescuing as many people as you can."

"Sure thing."

"Understood."

"Magistrate, as you have the most experience fighting the Zerg I want you to make a beeline for Andasar City and fortify it to the best of your abilities."

"I'll do my best."

"Dismissed." Duke, Mengsk and Kerrigan vanish from the holo screens.

"Good luck." I tell the marshal.

"It'll be a cakewalk." Raynor says with a grin.

"I'll leave the Mar Sara Soldiers with you and I'll take the Antigans, next time we meet it'll be in a fortress." I hold an arm out, and he clasps it.

"Good luck."

"Oh please, if I weren't lucky I wouldn't have gotten off of Mar Sara, Adjutant prep the dropships."

"Alert sent, A dropship will be waiting for you outside, Magistrate."

Great, I'll collect my Adjutant before heading out, hopefully we get to Andasar before the Zerg, or before any of the other squads respond to Duke's emergency transmission.

"Portable unit disconnected." The Command center tells me as I pull the plug. "All transmissions have been recorded for future review."

"Good job, let's get out of here." I tuck the case beneath my arm and make my way out of the enormous structure.

Just outside is a dropship closing the vehicle bay and opening the shuttle doors. Several marines with the Antiga Prime sigil flood aboard. "Strap yourselves in boys."

I make my way to the pilot seat. "Are you my personal dropship pilot now or something?" I ask Aaila, settling down in the co pilot seat.

"Only way to make sure nothing happens to the Magistrate is to be the one to drive him, am I right?"

All I can do is sigh in response. "Just be quick."

"Quick is all I am." She chuckles, lifting the transport off the ground, several other dropships follow suit. Aaila flicks on her mic. "Alright ladies, time is of the essence and we don't have the luxury of being slow, so follow my lead and don't fall behind."

There is a collective groan from the other pilots, myself included. "Did you get a promotion while I was resting?"

"The general was so impressed with my flying that I was promoted to captain of Mar Sara Transports." She says, barely holding herself back from laughing.

That bastard.

"Keep your eyes to the skies, last thing we need is to get clipped by a Scourge."

"Scourge?" I ask furrowing my brow.

"Yeah, it's a name we came up with for the suiciding fliers, they're the scourges of a dropship pilot's existence." There is venom in her voice. "Fast, agile and determined to die."

"I think that's a great name, my Goliath took a hit while extracting the General." I can still remember the chaos, as it was yesterday when it happened.

"Destination, Andasar city! I haven't been welcomed in a city in a long time." Aaila lets out a sigh. "I think I'll find a restaurant and get something fancy."

"I think the most exotic creatures they have are vultures and buffalo."

"Still, it'll be a nice treat."

"You can romanticize later." One of her fellow pilots pipes up.

"It's not romanticizing if it's food! It's… food!" She counters hotly.

Now it's my turn to conceal a laugh.

"Har har, laugh it up." Aaila puffs. And I am joined by several pilots in the mirth.

"I like these guys." I wipe a tear from my eyes.

Aaila frowns, but doesn't look away from the sky ahead. "Incoming!" Without warning Aaila banks the dropship to the side, narrowly dodging a Scourge as it speeds past and impacts the ground with an explosion of acid.

"Fun time's over ladies and gents, get get serious or get dead." Aaila turns professional and I shut my mouth.

Above us is a flock of Scourges, and they have noticed us. Another Scourge divebombs the caravan. "Anyone hit?" Aaila asks quickly.

"Almost, got hit by the splash but I'm still airborne."

"Adjutant, are we in comms range of any wraiths?" I ask my briefcase.

"Contacting."

"Wraith one reporting in."

"Wraith one this is Magistrate Maxton Dirge, I'm taking the Antigan forces to Andasar City and we've come under assault from Zerg suicide bombers, there's too many to avoid forever." The dropship shakes as A scourge misses by mere feet, the wing is splashed by acid and I can see it burning through the plasteel.

"Roger that, standby for air support."

"This is worse than Mar Sara." I tell Aaila. "The Zerg must have been here longer, but why assault Mar Sara first?" These creatures blindly attack anything that stands in their way, a spear that cannot stop going forward. The dropship shakes once more.

"Brace for impact!" Aaila suddenly shouts, lifting higher off the ground to avoid one, but placing the dropship in the path of another.

The Scourge detonates before making contact. "Backup has arrived." Wraith one says simply as a wraith decloaks next to us. "We'll get you to safety in one piece."

A cheer goes up from the pilots. "We're saved!"

"Kick their asses!"

The Wraith cloaks, leaving no trace of it ever being there. "I want my entire army equipped with those." I say in awe. Seeing a Ghost cloak is one thing, but seeing a Wraith cloak is something else.

A wraith uncloaks, diving towards the cloud of acidic death and firing rockets into it. There is a chain reaction of explosions, but the cloud separates before it could get too bad. Scourges break off from the cloud to pursue the Wraith, but it cloaks leaving confused suicide bombers wandering around looking for the air superiority fighter.

Once again a wraith decloaks just to fire rockets into the mass before cloaking to lose the pursuing scourges, and again, and again. Each time the cloud gets slightly smaller. "Wait, are they leaving us alone?" A pilot pipes up.

"We've poked the beehive, you should be clear from here out." Wraith Two informs us and Aaila pushes the dropship to go as fast as it can.

"Thanks for the assistance, remind me to give each of you a medal."

"Just doing our jobs, Magistrate."

"Doing a fantastic job of it I might add, you've earned it."

"So, what's the plan once we're at Antiga City?" Aaila asks.

"First thing's first, I need to speak with Antiga Prime's Magistrate, if they're still alive, and take a stroll around the perimeter to asses our options."

There it is, the skyscrapers of the island city of Andasar city, I wouldn't call it a city and more of a town as Antiga is still in it's colonial phase much like Mar Sara was. A dropship is leaving the city, it seems that Kerrigan is already here.

"I'll do you one better and drop you off at the Magistrate manor's front door." Aaila tells me professionally, and then flicks on the coms. "Our end goal is to fortify the city, drop your payloads around the perimeter and I'll take the Magistrate to the manor." She tells the other pilots.

Aaila expertly weaves the transport between the tall buildings, civilians below us are staring at our entrance. Some are concerned, others are cheering.

"Sons of Korhal transports, this is Boris Farmer, Magistrate of Antiga Prime, I demand to know why you're on my planet."

"Magistrate Boris, this is Magistrate Maxton Dirge of Mar Sara, Zerg have been spotted on your world and we've come to lend assistance and evacuate your people."

"With a terrorist group?" Boris scoffs.

He's a loyalist, this isn't going to be easy. "We're working with Alpha Squadron, the Zerg is a bigger threat than anything we humans can do to one another."

"I know what you did, sold your loyalties to save your own hide, and forced Alpha Squadron to surrender to your ideals." I can hear the disdain in his voice.

"Alpha Squadron abandoned us to the Zerg, I did what I had to do to save my people." I turn off the mic temporarily. "Can the soldiers in the hold hear this?"

"They can, do you want them to?" Aaila asks me.

"Yes." I tell her, and Aaila presses a button before flipping the mic back on.

"You're a traitor Max, take your soldiers and leave before I tell mine to arrest you."

"The soldiers I bring are yours! Alpha Squadron was suppressing your military to the point of open revolt and you still believe that the Confederates will stand by you as the Zerg ravage your planet?" I argue.

"We have laws for a reason, those who break them are outlaws, and if what you say is true, then you'll be arrested upon touchdown, I look forward to seeing you in chains."

"I won't stand by and watch civilians die because of some delusion that the Confederates will always uphold their laws, when I know for a fact that they break them when it suits them, the Confederacy is full of corruption."

"Every magistrate knows there's corruption, you were chosen to be Magistrate of Mar Sara afterall."

"See you when we land." I say hotly.

Boris laughs as he cuts the transmission. "Touch a nerve?"

"It's a process to become Magistrate, first the people vote on a pool of candidates, and then they compete amongst themselves to show who's most competent before a second election to pick the planetary magistrate, I won both votes fair and square-"

"Then why was he talking about corruption?"

"First day I got so drunk that I woke up in a separate solar system wearing someone else's uniform, I still don't know who's it was." I poke at the uniform I'm wearing. "That's the long story turned short."

"We're here." Aaila lands the transport, in front of us is Boris with armed guard.

"Max! I know you're in there, come out and face justice!"

"Tell me you aren't going to surrender?"

"Depends on the soldiers in the hold." I stand and leave the pilot room and walk amongst the Antigan soldiers. I stop in the midsts of them, none of them look up at me. "Your magistrate has demanded that I be brought for justice, make your choice now before we leave."

Again, silence. "I understand your hesitance, your loyalties are to Antiga Prime, but on the other hand you've been helped more than he ever has, I fought with you on the frontlines and plunged headfirst into hell alongside each of you, so make your choice, I'll abide by it." I hold my hands out to be cuffed, knowing that if I'm taken prisoner I may be left behind, or mengsk would break me out just to leave the people of Antiga Prime to die to the Zerg, and I wouldn't blame him.

"To hell with him." One soldier finally pipes up. "Our 'Magistrate' stood by while we were disarmed making excuses as to why it was needed and why we needed to be grateful for the air we breathed!" The soldier stands at attention. "Maxton is my Magistrate!"

"Maxton is my Magistrate!" A cheer goes up amongst the Antigan soldiers as one by one they stand at attention.

"MAXTON IS OUR MAGISTRATE!"

I can't help but smile with pride. "Alright Militia, it's time to show Boris what loyalty really is."

"Hey Max, by the door to the Cockpit is a hatch, inside is a present from Simmons." Aaila says on the internal comms.

I do like presents from my chief engineer.

The doors to the transport open and out comes the Antigan soldiers, Boris grinning, watching and waiting to see the traitor to be brought to justice.

Pride fills the Magistrate as the soldiers stand at attention in a line on either side of the ramp, it lowers to the vehicle bay, where Max will be wheeled out by Boris's soldiers.

The vehicle bay opens, and confusion settles over the Antigan magistrate, where's the traitor?

A Goliath bearing the Sons of Korhal standard walks out of the dropship. "Boris Farmer, you've abused your power for too long and neglected your duties as a Magistrate, how do you plead?" Maxon's voice is amplified by the Goliath's speakers.

"Seize him!" Boris points at the Goliath with panic.

"A Magistrate's first duty is to is people, to which he owes his position too, you've broken this and as such you are no longer fit to be Magistrate, I will be taking over until a proper trial can take place." Max continues, and the Antigan soldiers who came out of the dropship approach Boris, his bodyguards look at each other in confusion.

"You'd side with a traitor over your own Magistrate?! Traitors all of you! Adjutant activ-"

Kerrigan decloaks behind the Magistrate, pressing her rifle into the base of his skull. "Turn over command of the Adjutant, ex-magistrate." Maxton orders Boris.

"I don't have the authority to-" Kerrigan pushes harder. "I don't! Don't kill me!" Boris is now crying.

"Disgraceful, knock him out, we'll deal with him later." Maxton tells the Ghost, and she complies by slamming the butt of her stock into his temple, knocking him out instantly.

"What's going on?" One of Boris's bodyguards asks, one of the Antigan soldiers approaches and clasps his arm.

"We'll fill you in, but for now we have a major problem."

...

I hop out of the Goliath and approach the ghost with a wide smile.

"Thank you Kerrigan, we'd be in trouble if Boris had turned the automated defences against us." I hand her my briefcase. "This is my mobile Adjutant, it overrides any Adjutant it plugs into."

"Why're you giving me something so important?"

"Because I need you to get into the AI core and plug it in, without authorization it'll be more of a hindrance than an aid, the Adjutant will also use every resource in it's disposal to make sure you stay out, which ranges from vulcan turrets to gassing the access corridor, and if all else fails it'll emp itself to make sure any information it had is wiped, and those are the last two things we need to have happen."

"Two?"

"I don't want you to die in there, and I want the information the Adjutant has… it's a win-win... when you get out."

"And if I die?"

"And break my heart?" I playfully tease. "I have full faith in your abilities, Kerrigan." Stay professional.

"Where's the AI core?"

"You've never been in the AI core of a Magistrate manor?" I furrow my brow, the possibility didn't cross my mind.

"No, I've been in a Command Center's AI core, but not something so pompous."

"Ouch, thankfully it has a maintenance access hatch so we don't need to alert the Adjutant to your entry."

The hatch was hidden by a statue of Boris, built to scale with the man's pride no doubt. "Anything else I need to know?" Kerrigan asks, pausing on the ladder down.

"There's a vault door right before the Adjutant, it has an access hatch in the lower right corner but making the door open will alert it to your presence, however every hour it performs a routine checkup in which it activates everything in sync, the doors will be last, it won't gas the room or fill it with holes so long as it doesn't know you're there."

"Cameras?"

"Cloaking will be the only way to remain undetected, you may need to stay cloaked for up to an hour." I give her the short answer.

"I've gone longer." She shrugs, and closes the hatch above her.

"Good luck, Angel." I say with a grin.

"What now?" An Antigan soldier asks me.

"We can't use the city's Adjutant until Kerrigan's done, in the meantime I want you to find and fortify all exits to the city, if any Zerg gets into the city they might multiply to unreasonable amounts in a blink of an eye, and then the war is lost."

"With what?"

"Mengsk is routing as much as he can to the city, as they arrive tell them help fortify the exits, and to establish Anti Air around the city."

"Yes sir."

"I want every block covered by three separate Anti Air emplacements, understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Dismissed." The soldier sprints off and I let out a sigh. This isn't going to be like Mar Sara, it'll be better… I promise Lesly.


	10. Chapter 10

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 10: The Calm before the storm**

"Get Boris in a cell, keep him gagged until Kerrigan's done, we can't risk him turning the Adjutant against us." I order as Boris is carried away.

The Magistrate's bodyguards leave with the soldiers taking Boris away, already talking about the changes. "You should get to the Command center in the manor." One of the soldiers insists, and I shake my head.

"Not until Kerrigan's done, the Adjutant could easily put me under house arrest or even kill me with the interior defences, until then I'll have to direct the defence effort in person." While I'd still inspect the defenses in person, being able to see the layout of the city and the positions of the men would make doing that infinitely easier.

And suddenly I find myself wishing I had access to the city's sensor grid, I'd be able to see what's going on all the way across Antiga Prime… as long as the grid remains undamaged and open that is. If Duke shuts off this Sensor grid as well, we will have words.

I hop back into my Goliath and walk it back into the dropship. "Aaila, we're heading for the Starport, maybe it's large enough for the Hyperion to dock and make this faster."

"Roger that."

"Monitor the Adjutant's communications." I tell the soldiers. "If it sends out a distress signal I want to be notified immediately."

"Yes sir!" And the vehicle bay closes.

"I'll need to refuel soon." Aaila alerts me.

"Then we're killing two birds with one stone, so long as the Adjutant doesn't try anything." So much is dependant on the Adjutant doing nothing instead of fighting us… Hurry Kerrigan.

"Uh, Max?" Aaila asks on the onboard comms.

"On my way." Already I'm hopping out of the Goliath and rushing for the ladder to the cockpit, I know a 'You need to see this' when I hear one. "What's up?" I settle down in the chair next to the pilot.

"It's a riot." She points to a camera pointed at the ground.

I'm left speechless, looking at the camera with bewilderment. "WHY!?"

"Can't really hear them from here, but the Antigan soldiers below might have a better clue."

"Land, I want to know what's going on."

"Yes sir." The dropship backs up and touches down behind a line of Antigan soldiers, none of them have their weapons aimed, but that can change in a moment's notice.

I storm out of the dropship. "What is going on here?" I demand.

"Sir, word of Boris's imprisonment has leaked and the people are furious." The closest officer tells me.

"There's the bastard who put us under martial law!" I can hear someone shout, and the bloodthirsty crowd surges against the wall of neosteel.

"How did word leak al- Nevermind, I know how." The Adjutant is already acting against us. "Do not fire at the civilians."

"You need to get out of here, we can hold them back for now." The officer urges me.

"Yes, no need to make your job any harder." The people are furious at me… what is the Adjutant telling them?

"Well?" Aaila asks as I sit down.

"They're rioting because they're under 'martial law' by a 'terrorist group'."

Aaila looks at me and leans backward in shock. "It's an evacuation, not martial law! Is there anything we can do?"

"Wait for Kerrigan, we'll have to deal until then."

The dropship lifts off the ground and we continue on our way, the starport is visible in the distance, and it's larger than the one I had at Mar Sara. "That's huge." I whistle.

"It's a bit small." Aaila admits.

"Small!?"

"I was a shuttle pilot on Tarsonis, remember? It has six starports that easily dwarf this one."

I've never laid eyes on the capitol, so I take her word for it. "It looks big enough for Battlecruisers."

"One or two, but that's stretching it."

The clouds part, and down comes the Hyperion. "Whoa." Neither of us were expecting Mengsk to bring the flagship planetside, the dropship stops as we watch.

Once it's low enough the Starport's docking clamps reach for the Hyperion, easing it into the sole spot large enough for it. An escort of wraiths decloak and enter the dropship, one of them is on fire.

"When he said he'd route as much as he could to the city, I wasn't expecting the Hyperion." I shake my head.

"People of Antiga Prime." Mengsk's voice can be heard on the speakers. "We are not your enemies, we've detected Zerg coming for the city and couldn't stand by, watching as-"

Suddenly the Adjutant's voice interrupts. "Medical assistance is requested for one: Sarah, Kerrigan, in the AI core." And my heart stops.

"Turn this ship around, Adjutant find a medic!"

"Medical staff has been informed." The Adjutant tells me.

"She'll be fine." Aaila tells reassuringly.

"I don't care, The Hyperion can wait until the stars burn out for all I care!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh." The ship turns around, and we miss the rest of the Hyperion docking. "Why were we heading for the Starport if we're just going to go back?" She sounds annoyed.

"I was going to organize the evacuation so it's not a chaotic mess like it was on Mar Sara, but that doesn't matter nearly as much as the welfare of my soldiers."

"Soldiers get shot all the time, you don't put things on hold for…" She stops, her mouth forming an O.

"What?" I ask gruffly.

"Nothing." She shakes her head quickly. "Nothing." She repeats.

I narrow my eyes, but say nothing. Her name's Sarah, I don't think she's ever told me her first name. My frown goes away as I continue to think, the dropship speeds up, as Aaila hides a sly smile.

The ramp isn't down all the way before I'm already marching off it. "Where is Lieutenant Kerrigan?" I demand the Adjutant.

"Medical ward, basement level one."

"Guide me, Andasar isn't Mar Sara City." And even then I didn't know the manor that well.

The front doors open, I'm greeted by saluting soldiers. I pay them no heed as the Adjutant guides me through my earpiece, having called the elevator before I rounded the corner.

"Transmission from Arcturus Mengsk."

I tap my foot as the elevator descends, and release a sigh. "Patch him through."

"Magistrate, I expect that you've located the stockpiles?"

"We ran into some problems with Antiga Prime's Magistrate, but nothing we couldn't handle. Adjutant do you have the location of the Stockpiled minerals and vespene?"

"Information not found." The Adjutant tells us.

"Looks like we're scouring the city." I let out a sigh. "I'll interrogate Boris and see if we can get a location." Looks like the Adjutant caught onto Kerrigan's infiltration.

"Hopefully Kerrigan will have better luck." Mengsk says disappointedly, and my heart sinks.

"Hopefully." I say, for a different reason.

"Transmission finished."

The doors open and I bolt out at a brisk pace, the Adjutant guiding me around the first basement level. Finally the doors open and I'm greeted by doctors and a ghost on a medical bed with an oxygen mask. "How is she?"

My sudden arrival startled the doctors, they quickly regain their composure as a quick scan of the room tells me where Sarah is, she's wearing an oxygen mask and bandages over her shoulder, and unconscious. "How is she?" I walk over.

"She took a few bullets to her shoulder and thigh, along with vespene poisoning." A doctor informs me.

"Will she live?"

"She's stable, but will never recover with vespene coating her lungs."

"Can you get it out?"

"It's slow, and getting increasingly difficult."

"Do what you can." I turn my attention to the unconscious ghost, unable to speak. "Can I stay?"

"As long as you don't touch anything."

"I can do that." I tap my earpiece to show the doctor. "Adjutant, I need squads scouring the city for the mineral and vespene stockpiles, and let me know when Boris wakes up."

"Yes, Magistrate."

I watch the heart rate monitor, and glance at X-rays of her lungs, which look normal to my untrained eye.

"Incoming Transmission."

"Patch it through."

"Hey Partner, I hope you have some anti air ready." Raynor's voice crackles to life in my earpiece.

"We just got access to the Adjutant, we'll have missile turrets up as soon as we locate the city's stockpiles, but until then we have some point defense turrets set up… Why?"

"We're bringing an angry, flying ball of suicidal Zerg."

"Oh Sh- Adjutant scramble as many wraiths as we can, we can't lose any transports." I stand up, but don't move away from Kerrigan.

"Routing wraith patrols to assist Captain James Raynor."

"Assistance is on the way." I tell the captain. "Thinking about it, Adjutant how's the sensor grid?"

"Sections eight and nine are down, section six subsections four and five are down, section five-"

"I get it, there's a massive gap in the network, what's the source of the damage?"

"Biological signatures detected closing in on sensor towers before going down."

The Zerg are settling down close enough to the towers to take them out in expansion, and know that they're aiding us. It's as if the Zerg aren't just mindless animals. "This isn't going to be easy with the hardware we have." Who knows what blueprints the adjutant had before the EMP, we'll have to deal. "I want Goliath kill teams clearing out the Scourge clouds harassing our transports."

"Factory fabrication matrix active, Goliath pilots notified."

"Specialize missiles for area of effect, and replace auto cannons with flak turrets."

"Requesting Alterations from lead Engineer."

I let out a sigh. "Let me know if anything happens, or if boris wakes up."

"I'm going to assume that the wraiths are your doing?" Raynor asks.

"They'll be able to distract the Scourges, but you've finished evacing already?"

"First two towns we found were infested, we came across a city being infested and we've been chased ever since." Raynor explains.

"Excuse me, infested?"

"The Zerg are infesting terrans, I don't think there's many people left on this planet."

"Adjutant how's the sensor grid around settlements?"

"Offline."

"You might be right captain." I let out a sigh, looking down at the ghost sadly. "Get what you can, bring them here, and make a sweep to see if anyone's left."

"Will do."

"Transmission finished." The Adjutant says and I mute my earpiece mic.

"I told you to be careful, ah who am I kidding, the Adjutant probably knew you were down there the moment you went into the maintenance corridor." I say with a heavy heart. "Wake up please… The Sons of Korhal need you." No response, too much to hope for.

I lean back in my seat, eyes on the ceiling as I think. I still owe you an explanation for my freakout, don't I? How do I put it into words for when you wake up?

With an explanation I suppose. Every decade a new Magistrate is voted into office, but it's not that simple, instead a pool of candidates are voted on and then trained personally under the previous magistrate, I was one of sixteen.

Three years after the pool has been selected there is a second vote to determine who's the most qualified for the job, if none of the potentials get the minimum number of votes then the previous Magistrate stays in office, if multiple get the minimum number of votes then they campaign for a year and it comes down to who gets the most votes out of the selected bunch, it's common to get two, rare to get three and unheard of to get four, and during all of this the people can still vote for the previous Magistrate but he's not allowed to campaign so he or she can focus on their job.

There are loopholes in this system, but nobody cares so long as it's within the law. The initial pool was sixteen, myself included.

I let out a sigh and shut my eyes tight. When it was announced that I was part of the pool of sixteen some friends of mine wanted to celebrate and I agreed, getting your foot into the office is something someone can only dream of and getting the votes necessary was stressful, and not something I did alone.

So we celebrated, like most potentials did in my position. I got so drunk that I blacked out, and when I woke up to a ghost and his squad of marines shaking me awake, telling me that we needed to move.

Terrified I followed the Ghost, turns out I was in the Tarsonis System, systems away from the Sara system. It's a felony for a training magistrate to leave the system they're running in and grounds for immediate termination.

I could have been executed on the spot.

Instead Tosh introduced himself and his team, and escorted me back to the Sara System, with body bags in tow. They didn't kill me, but they killed people… It doesn't take a Ghost to figure out who they used to be.

If you thought that was rough.

There is only one way to get rid of a potential, if the Magistrate deems them unfit for duty. And having a felony on record is more than enough reason, but he didn't do it, he didn't even add the felony to my record, something I fixed when I was voted up to be Magistrate.

I did my best to pay the people of Mar Sara back, community service until the election was over, if I failed the election I'd have kept with the community service until the max punishment time was served, which was a lifetime. Getting elected to Magistrate meant I'd be serving the people anyway, but I wasn't content with sitting in an office.

I'm jumping ahead.

It was a tie between me and one other magistrate, and during the campaign he continuously referenced my escapade to Tarsonis, when I pulled out of the runnings and resigned myself to picking up litter and repairing cattle fences. Technically the vote still had to happen and I couldn't pull my name out, only the magistrate could do that. I don't remember the name of the guy who I 'ran' against, but after I 'dropped' out he made so many promises to ensure his victory.

And then the big day came and I won by seven votes. It was a shaky first month, what with the other potentials complaining that a felon was elected in office and would constantly bring up the felony report I had put in upon being elected, demanding that there be a revote. But one by one they stopped, some had been busted for drug abuse, some left the system for one reason or another and couldn't continue pushing or else have that same felony should there be a revote, the rest… Stopped.

About a year later I was called in for Live Fire training, and the rest is history. I let out a sigh. "I'll come see you later, when we don't have the Zerg breathing down our necks, and maybe even share my story with you." I say with a weak smile, yet hopeful.

"Magistrate, there are other wounded here, would you like to see them?" A nurse asks me by the door.

…

"Sure, it's a good way to keep Morale up." I attempt to give the nurse the brightest smile I can.

My earpiece crackles. "Captain Raynor's transports have arrived and require repairs before leaving."

I turn on my mic. "Make sure they have everything, I'm surprised Mengsk hasn't said anything yet." I'm glad that I can act autonomously.

"Priority Alert, Zerg Biosignatures detected approaching the perimeter."

Showtime. "I'll have to reschedule, we're about to come under attack." Before anyone can say anything I'm rushing out the door, a hand clasped over the earpiece so I can hear it easier.

Large pieces of equipment are being moved through the manner. I round the corner and nearly bump into someone. "Mengsk?" I ask startled. "No, you're not Mengsk."

"I am a Mengsk." The officer tells me with some hesitation.

"His son?"

"...Correct, I am Valerian Mengsk." He holds a hand out and I gladly shake it.

"He never said he had a son, I owe your father a lot but right now we're about to come under seige.. We're running out of time." I tell the Mengsk.

"Is there anything I can do?" Valerian straightens his coat.

"How much do you know about our plans in the city?"

"Father has told me everything."

"Good, we still don't know where the Stockpiles are and the Adjutant wiped it's memory before we could jack it, our only lead is Boris Farmer… Get that information anyway you can."

"Where is he now?"

"In the holding cells if I were to guess, the Antigan soldiers know better than I do."

Valerian nods with purpose and turns. "Take me to the prisoner." he commands the soldier behind him.

"Pinkie?!" I let out a chuckle. "Glad to see that you've gotten someone easier to watch than me."

Kaleb grumbles, but ushers the Mengsk away.

"Good kid, eta?" I turn my attention back to my earpiece and continue my charge ahead.

"Thirty minutes from closest hive."

"They're already boxing us in." I mumble under my breath. "Keep a reserve back and mobilize the rest of the soldiers, we can't afford to let any Zerg into the city."

"Yes magistrate."

An idea strikes. "Any cameras near the perimeter active and transmitting to every civilian monitor, if they don't think they're in danger, we'll show them that they are." That should stop the rioting, hopefully. Today has not been a good day for the Sons of Korhal.

"Goliath Kill teams on the move."

"Keep them away from the warzone, their jobs are to keep the skies around the city clear." I think I'm lost. "Adjutant, I need to get to the command room."

"Arcturus Mengsk is already there."

"Doesn't change that I need access to the sensor net."

"Yes Magistrate." Now with the guidance of the Adjutant I can find my way around the complex. "Perimeter guard has engaged Zerg forces."

"Didn't take long." I mutter, pushing open the doors. And inside is not only Arcturus Mengsk, but also Edmund Duke.

Duke and I make eye contact. "Didn't take you long to rescue half the planet." I say dryly.

"Boy I'm lucky to be here, nobody said anything about infested terrans." Duke retorts hotly.

"Enough." Arcturus silences the both of us. "Asides from Captain Raynor, we have every living terran on Antiga prime ready for evacuation, right?" He looks at me.

"The people of Andasar are a bit riled up, but nothing that video footage of a Zerg skirmish won't fix." I reassure him.

Video footage of the riot from earlier shows up on the screen, and I hold firm. "For the people's sake, I hope so." Duke says and I narrow my eyes, unsure what he's talking about.

"Our priorities are to get the peaceful Antigan's onboard the Hyperion and then get on it ourselves." Mengsk cuts the tension with a knife. "In the meantime Duke I want you searching for the-"

"Boris Farmer has regained consciousness." The Adjutant cuts in.

"That'll make this easier, I already have someone set to interrogate him." I inform the generals.

"Regardless, Duke I want you searching the city for the stockpiles and load what we don't use onto the Hyperion."

"I'll lead the search personally."

"Dismissed general." Duke strides out of the room full of pride and purpose.

I still don't trust him. "Transports inbound followed by Scourge Clouds, routing Goliath kill teams."

"That would be the captain now."

Raynor appears on the screen. "There are hundreds of these clouds out here!"

"Pull back captain, we have everyone." Mengsk orders.

"Best news I've ever heard." And he disappears.

"Adjutant, get me visuals on one of these 'clouds'." Mengsk orders, and a blob of Zerg mass appears on the holo.

"Zerg bio signature comprised of hundreds of smaller signatures." The adjutant explains.

"How dangerous are these things?" Mengsk furrows his brow.

"A couple can take down a dropship easily, it took one to wreck my Goliath." I explain.

"They turned around." Duke notes, and sure enough they're leaving the sensor network.

"Confederate forces detected warping in."

"One thing to another."

"We could have been out of here by now." Duke says snarky.

"You are right, but it would be at the expense of innocent people, and that's not a sacrifice I'm willing to take, general." Mengsk shuts down the argument before it could begin. "The Zerg can keep the confederates busy while we make our escape, it's perfect." I can see the plan forming in the commander's head.

"Orders?" I ask, standing at attention.


	11. Chapter 11

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 11: The Vengance Card**

"Cloud incoming!" A fellow Goliath pilot shouts.

"Missiles free." I order, we turn in sync and fire indiscriminately at the Zerg suicide fliers with shrapnel rockets.

Each detonation is a chain reaction, the cloud never dies in one or two rockets, they seem to have the knowledge that staying too close when one of them explodes leads to the entire cloud going up in a mist of acid.

It takes over a dozen of goliaths to take out a single cloud without retaliation, and I've got eight of these strewn out across the plains. I haven't heard from Valerian about progress on Boris, but I have faith.

Unfortunately we're stuck here as well, the Confederates have set up orbital cannons aimed at the Hyperion, if it tries taking off it'll be shot out of the sky. All hope of getting off this world lies with Alpha Squadron's general. I don't like it, but I'll deal.

It's been theorized that if the Zerg attack them instead of us we might be able to get out of here during the chaos, but so far we haven't seen the Zerg get near their base. They seem intent on wiping us off of the face of the planet in particular.

"Cloud down! On to the next one!" The ones that don't detonate have been rendered unable to fly due to the shrapnel.

"Zerg 'cloud' detected approaching from the north, Skybreaker team three is enroute to intercept." The Adjutant informs me.

"How's reserves?" I ask my Skybreaker team.

"Could do with a break, but my Goliath's ready to take out another cloud."

"We've been out here for what, four hours now?" Another pilot says while stretching.

"Yeah, I think it's time we took a break." I admit, while we aren't doing much, these seat's aren't the most comfortable. "Turning back now, Adjutant get a team out here to replace us."

"Finally!" he Pilot who pointed out how long we've been out here for lets out a shout of joy.

It's an hour's ride back to the city, but with the area being patrolled constantly we'll be fine.

"Get me Valerian." I tell the Adjutant.

"Opening Transmission."

"Magistrate?" Mengsk's son asks.

"How goes the interrogation?"

I can hear him sigh. "He's stubborn, saying how we'll be wiped out once and for all and that it's for the betterment of Mankind."

"If you need Kerrigan to help out I'm sure she'll be more than willing to-"

"Hold on a moment, what did you say, Mister Farmer?" Valerian's voice softens as he walks away from the device transmitting, getting quieter until all I can hear is mumbling, and then a commotion. "Magistrate you need to get here now." He urges.

"What's up?"

"Boris just admitted to having an active Psi emitter in the manor." Valerian informs me, taking leaving me speechless for a good minute.

"We'll add intentionally endangering his people to the list of crimes, does he know what a Psi Emitter does?" Absolute rage makes my hands shake.

"Everything alright Magistrate?" one of my squadmates asks, noticing that my Goliath's chassis shakes as the hand controlling it shakes almost uncontrollably.

There's a delay. "He was told to activate it if the Sons of Korhal ever arrived, and that he would have the full might of the Confederate fleet to back him up."

"But does he know what it does?"

"No, he thinks it's an emergency transmitter."

I sigh, at least he didn't knowingly sign his people's death warrant. "Unintentionally endangering his people, let your father know, I'll be back at Andasar soon."

"Officer meeting underway." The Adjutant says as I leave the Goliath in the Command Center's entrance.

"Hope I don't miss much." I say briskly walking, my asthma keeping me from breaking out into a run.

"-you darlin? This keeps getting better and better." I can hear Raynor ask jokingly as the Comms room door opens and it's patched into the meeting, I'm the only one in the Command Center.

"Glad you could join us." Mengsk greets warmly.

"I was out with a Skybreaker team keeping the skies clear when I got news of the Psi emitter and came straight back."

"Glad to see you partner." Raynor nods in greeting.

"What did I miss?"

"Lieutenant, mind explaining the findings for the Magistrate?" Mengsk asks.

Kerrigan clears her throat. "The Confederates run a program for psychically gifted humans, training them to become ghosts, those running the program have found that the Zerg are attuned to the psychic emanations of ghosts-"

"Wait, so you're telling me, that the Confederates found a way of replicating a Ghost's Psionic waveform in order to ring the dinner bell for the Zerg!?" I slam my fists on the console.

"We not only found the Psi emitter in the basement, but as we kept looking into the disk you and Raynor stole, we found designs for the Confederate's latest weapon and now we know their motives for creating such a weapon."

I sit down in a chair and lean back, soaking it all in.

Mengsk takes the opportunity. "The Confederates used these Psi Emitters to lure the Zerg to isolated containment areas, the Mar Sara colony was one such location." He begins.

"What are you saying?" Raynor asks, anger rising in both of us.

"I'm saying that the Zerg are a secret weapon developed by the Confederacy. I'm saying that you were all subject of a Confederate, Weapons test!" Mengsk says with anger, resentment, and judgment.

No one says anything, Mengsk gets somber and I can see him letting out a deep breath. "Just as they destroyed Korhal with nuclear weapons to establish dominance a generation ago, they would use the Zerg to put an end to their other rivals, only this time… there would be no outrage, who would suspect the aliens were their creation?" Mengsk poises the metaphorical question for us, but I already know the answer, I'm sure everyone does. "No, they'd be lauded as heroes for coming in and destroying the Zerg, it's time for the Confederacy to pay for their crimes." He then looks at me, and at Raynor. "As victims of this weapon's experiment, I can think of no better judges for use of such weapons, if they aren't stopped they will continue using the Zerg against humanity, and I place my faith in your hands." Mengsk leans back, giving up the center stage.

Kerrigan looks between Raynor and me, while the two of us exchange a silent conversation. Both of us are equally furious for what happened.

He nods to me, and I speak up. "We will use the Psi Emitter to wipe the Confederates off the face of Antiga prime." I announce.

"A bold idea." Mengsk says with shock, and a hidden grin. "How would you propose we get the Psi Emitter into the Confederate base?"

I scratch my chin. "We smuggle it in while the Confederates deal with an assault on their doorstep, Kerrigan can slip it into the confederate base while we distract them, once they're dealing with the Zerg they won't have the chance to stop us from going to orbit."

"I'll round up some men." Raynor tells me before disappearing from the holoscreen.

"The factories will have Siege Tanks added and ready for production." Mengsk promises. "You have the full might of the Sons of Korhal at your disposal, Magistrate."

"Transmission finished." The meeting adjourns, and I stomp out of the Command center. "Adjutant I want Simmons on this mission." I say after I've calmed down a bit. "I want to know what frequency it works on so we can detect it in the future." No wonder the Zerg have been ignoring the Confederates… until now.

They knew we found the Emitter as on the sensors is an assault force enroute to Andasar city, with siege tanks rolling out of the Factories now we'll be fine.

Let them come.

In the background is Arcturus's voice's echoing from several display screens in the city's center, a recording on loop explaining our findings and some propaganda to further bring the people to our side. Kerrigan has her force, Simmons in his SCV and running scans on the transmitter.

It's as standard a transmitter I've ever seen, but to think it's capable of such destruction… the Confederates will pay, there's no way Duke didn't know what was going on when he was told to abandon Mar Sara.

My hatred for that man octuples. Confrontations can come later. "I'm having second thoughts about this Max, no one should have the Zerg brought down on them." Kerrigan says on the local comms, she's sitting on a siege tank a dozen feet away.

"Chau Sara, Mar Sara, and Antiga prime didn't deserve to have the Zerg called down on them, but look at what happened. I agree that no one should have the Zerg brought down on them, but I am fine with turning them back around on the ones who threw them out first." Empathy fills my heart as I speak.

"Contact imminent." The Adjutant interrupts us.

"Show time, open fire." I tell the Siege Tanks, and my Goliath shakes as the shock cannons open fire, putting all the knockback into the ground.

Seconds later the Confederate tanks anchor themselves to fire on our position, and then a chain of explosions tears up the ground. "What idiot thinks that charging entrenched siege tanks on the high ground is a good idea." I say with a satisfied grin.

"Enemy tanks down!" Graves reports as the smoke clears, confederate infantry are still charging. "Realigning next shot."

"Move up! Siege tanks continue bombardment and move up when I tell you to… Stay safe Simmons… Kerrigan."

"Roger."

"Yes Max."

Raynor and another marine grabs hold of my Goliath as I lead the charge down the cliffside, the only spot safe enough to climb in a vehicle. "Time to make these sons of bitches pay." Raynor seethes.

"You and me both." The only downside of having the three of us out here is leaving Andasar's defence in the hands of Edmund Duke.

Once we reach the bottom of the cliff the marines drop off of the Goliaths and charge ahead, using the mechs as cover as the land ahead of us erupts once again as the second volley of Shock Cannons hits their mark, taking out swaths of infantry.

We're just the cleanup. "Area clear, you are free to move up, Shock'n Awe Company."

"Delighted too sir!" it takes a minute for the tanks to unsiege, but with the area clear we have all the time we need.

The strike force continues moving. "How goes the analysis, Simmons?" I ask on a secured channel.

"It's so bizarre, it's like they took a brain scan of someone psionic and amplified it a million times over on top of itself."

"Can you find who the scan is based off of?" I wonder.

"If I had access to the brain scans of everyone in the Confederacy and was immortal, sure." Simmons responds sarcastically.

"We don't have to check everyone, just psionic people."

"If I had access to the brain scans of everyone in the Confed-"

"Haha, I heard you the first time."

"Wraith squadron inbound." The Adjutant informs us.

"Tanks in the center, Skybreakers form a perimeter!" I bark on the local comms, and everyone scrambles to get into position.

"Take cover Rangers!" Raynor yells.

Rangers?

Without my control, my goliath turns and seemingly shoots into the empty sky, the missiles of every goliath makes trails in the sky that would make you think the operators were drunk. But I have faith in the Adjutant.

A flash in the sky followed by an impact on my Goliath's chassis. "Gah!" I let out a startled cry.

"Magistrate! Are you okay?" One of my teammates asks.

"I'm fine, first time fighting a cloaked unit." I admit. "How do you keep your nerve?"

"By shooting blindfolded during bootcamp."

Let out a joke, which slowly dies as my Goliath is struck again. The missiles start detonating in the sky, the chain reaction covering the sky in firey death. "Wait, you're serious?"

Quiet.

"Confederate Wraiths are retreating."

"Put in a request for air support." I tell the Adjutant.

"Request sent."

"Move everyone! The Confederate base isn't that far out."

Kerrigan decloaks just outside the reinforced glass. "If you make a big enough ruckus, Simmons and I can slip by and plant the emitter." She doesn't sound happy.

Hopefully we won't have to, by an unspoken Mutual Destruction pact. She looks confused, probably having neglected her history lessons.

And now she's rolling her eyes at me. "You can stop reading my mind now, it'll only get worse the longer you listen in." I promise her with a humorous smile. "We'll give you your opening, just like last time."

Kerrigan nods and cloaks. The convoy moves once more, the Confederates know we're coming and if we're not careful, we'll be sieged to death.

Simmons and Kerrigan fall behind the tank line and break off as we continue forward.

"Maintain radio contact if possible." I tell Simmons.

"Roger."

Minutes pass, and the tension can be cut with a knife. "There's no going back until we're done boys." Raynor says.

The Confederate base comes into view, probably an hour away but just in range of the Siege tanks. "We hold here, Shock'n Awe, do your thing."

"Absolutely!" The Tanks push ahead and start sieging.

"There's no way they're going to let us throw rocks at their base, look alive." Raynor's Rangers climb onto the tanks with weapons at the ready.

"Defensive formation, Skybreakers." The Goliaths surround the tanks. "Adjutant keep us informed of what's going on… Shock'n Awe, fire when ready."

"Enemy Vultures approaching your position." The Adjutant tells me, just before the transmission turns to static.

"Jammer."

"I didn't know you were a captain, private Obvious." I roll my eyes. "Weapons free, Shock'n Awe ignore the Vultures and focus on the base, we're pulling out as many Confederates as we can."

"Mother of…" A Marine breathes as a Battlecruiser rises from the ground and slowly turns towards us.

"They're bringing out the big guns! Let's hope that Air support comes." The Vultures arrive and circle us, launching grenades into our line, the marines duck behind the tanks for cover while the Skybreakers are pelted, returning fire.

It's not easy to hit high speed targets, but making them evade is better than being pelted by anti infantry grenades.

The Battlecruiser lifts higher as it moves overhead, we're about to come under orbital bombardment. We don't have the ammo to bring down a flagship, but the Zerg do. "Why hasn't the ship opened fire yet?" Raynor asks on the local comms, I can barely hear him over the gunfire and explosions. I open my mouth to respond, but then the question answer's itself. The Cruiser's Yamato cannon opens up and begins charging, pointing straight at us. "Oh hell." Raynor breathes as all gunfire stops to see the massive orange glow of the charging superweapon.

"GET TO COVER!" I scream into the comms, the Siege Tanks hastily unsieging, we can't leave them, and it's impossible to get out of range. I've heard that the Yamato Cannon has a similar blast zone to a Nuke. The Vultures flee back to base, leaving us to marvel at the power that'll be unleashed upon us.

"Anyone else feel that?" I ask feeling Deja'vu, and a tug on my mind.

"I think we all feel the same way." A marine says, resigned to his fate.

Kerrigan Activated the Psi emitter, but there's no way she's in the base already. I can feel the emitter amp up as it starts calling every Psionic being solar systems away.

A shiver goes down my spine as a feral screech echoes across the planet, the Zerg have gone into a frenzy. The ground shakes as billions of Zerg lured here previously storm across the ground.

The terrifying part is that none of us can see… them… yet… That is one massive Zerg rampaging this way. "Shock'n Awe, can you move?" I ask, trying to maintain my cool, the Zerg has two massive blade arms and four legs large enough to stomp on a siege tank and continue at full tilt.

"Almost."

"Almost- Almost isn't fast enough." Raynor's voice cracks, but he corrects it.

"Moving!" The tanks lurch ahead, we follow to reposition out of the way of the Ultra-Zerg. And then the sky, it's just like it was on Mar Sara, I stare helplessly up at the solid mass of airborne Zerg.

"Where the hell is Kerrigan?!" Raynor snaps. "We don't have time to hang around forever!"

There are a series of explosions and the battlecruiser starts to fall as it's Yamato Cannon fires, speeding away from us and into the sky back where we came from, the hole in the Zerg forces is quickly filled back in by incoming Zerg.

A lone Vulture speeds towards the group. "Max, Raynor, can you hear me!?" Kerrigan shouts into the Local Comms.

"Magistrate we need to move!" A Marine shouts at me, but I can't hear him, I'm busy staring up at the clouds, just like Mar Sara… and these things have free roam of the universe.

Kerrigan arrives on a stolen Vulture with Simmons clinging to her for life. "I recommend we get the hell out of here!" Simmons says in a panic. "The Confederates came under attack immediately, there were Zerg burrowed in their base!"

"The Magistrate's in shock!" The Marine trying to get my attention shouts.

"We're getting out of here, Max." The Ghost climbs into the Goliath and takes the controls. "Thank you for visiting me, and for telling me about yourself."

"Good job, Magistrate Maxton." Mengsk clasps my shoulders with a big and bright smile. "You are a fine soldier, when your back is pushed against the wall, your first instinct is to defend the people."

"Mengsk… Please promise me that we won't use a Psi Emitter again." I plead with the man.

"Max, you've already chosen the punishment for using the Zerg as a weapon, what justice is it to go back on what was decided?" He doesn't break his smile.

I don't say anything, still too shaken up by watching the sky and ground turn into seas of fang and claws seconds after activating the Psi Emitter. The Zerg have been on Antiga Prime longer than on Mar Sara, so why did they wait so long before emerging?

"Go get some rest, Duke and I will take care of things for awhile." Mengsk pats me on the shoulder proudly.

I leave the command room as Duke enters, proud. "I might have underestimated you backwater folk." Duke commends me as I pass him, without a word.

"Have a minute?" Kerrigan decloaks in the elevator as the doors close.

I simply nod, and turn to face the Ghost, and she looks worried.


	12. Chapter 12

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 12: Heart to Heart**

The door closes and locks behind us. "What'd you want to talk about?" I ask, sitting in the chair across from Kerrigan in my personal quarters.

"I've never seen anything react like that, the…" She has trouble finding the words.

"It was a feeding frenzy down there, whatever that Psi emitter did, it drove the Zerg mad." I rub my eyes, the memory of Zerg rushing around the Goliaths and over the tanks while the marines cowered to get at the emitter is burned into my skull.

"I could feel it when I turned on the emitter, a scream of someone in anguish… I feel like I know who was used to make it." Kerrigan rubs her temples.

"I didn't get that feeling at all." I frown. "All I could feel was that same familiarity."

Kerrigan's head snaps up at this. "You could feel it?" She asks for clarification.

"Yes?" I respond uncertain. "The squad could feel it." At least, I think they did?

"I… didn't reach the Confederate base before turning it on." Kerrigan admits. "If we weren't able to commodeer a vulture we'd have been stranded out there."

"Why'd you turn it on?"

"Because you would have been killed!" The Ghost remarks. "Nobody said anything about a battlecruiser, and I panicked when I saw the Yamato cannon charging… I knew I had to." She looks down.

"Thank you." I say full of gratitude. "There wouldn't have been anything left of us, the Yamato Cannon has roughly the same power as a Nuke, but it leaves the Battlecruiser on reserve power until it can recharge." They were willing to take a battlecruiser out of commission to kill me.

"Mengsk would have gotten mad about it if it didn't work out the way it did." She lets out a sigh of relief, smiling.

"He seems a bit up tight doesn't he?" I ask rhetorically, and she laughs.

"I'm worried that he still blames me." She says once she stops laughing.

"For what?"

"I was on the team of ghosts that killed his family." She looks at a portrait of the man in question. "I was the one who shot them, actually."

Then it would be Kerrigan's fault, but he must have forgiven her by now since she's still here… And I'm glad I got to meet my Angel.

"Oh stop it." Kerrigan rolls her eyes.

"I told you it would get worse if you kept reading my thoughts!" I snicker loudly.

"How many Ghosts have you dealt with?" Kerrigan wonders curiously.

"Why?"

"You seem really comfortable with me reading your thoughts to have had one interaction with a Ghost prior."

"Tosh and one other, never told me her name." I stretch. "From those two experiences I learned that my thoughts are never safe while in the presence of a Ghost." And given that you're asking me about this, it must be working.

"I remember being with senators who've been around ghost's their entire lives and never even considered it!" Kerrigan lets out a laugh.

I just blink. "I guess it never crossed their minds?" I hazard a guess.

The ghost leans back with a smile, but then it vanishes. "Do you think we'll use the Psi emitter again?" The mirth vanishes from the air.

I rub my chin in thought. Mengsk sounded like he planned on using the Psi Emitter again. "I hope that if we do, that it's only against military installations where there aren't civilians."

The speakers crackle to life. "All Alpha Squadron members are to report to the hangars for relocation on the Norad Three." Duke says with authority.

A thought strikes me. "Adjutant, override the mic in the apartment and play a recording of some classical music for them, throw in some of our noises, but not our conversation." I quickly tell the Adjutant.

"Playing record"

"Just in case someone wants to listen in on us." I growl, we came out here for privacy.. If we wanted to be listened in on we would have talked in the canteen or something.

"Glad you brought that thing along." Kerrigan points at the Mobile Adjutant. "How'd you get it?"

"Every Magistrate gets one for their first quarter, then they're supposed to give it back." I answer honestly. "When the Confederacy falls and Mengsk replaces it, which I know he will, he'll make it a point to change the Adjutants to make these redundant." I tap the briefcase.

"Eleven warp signatures detected, the rest of the Sons of Korhal fleet has arrived." My Mobile Adjutant pipes up.

I choke on the number. "Eleven!?"

"Mengsk kept the fleet split up to make it harder for the Confederacy to track their movements." Kerrigan explains. "Should we go see what's going on?"

"No, if we were needed we would have been called. " Besides, we can do with a break for once.

"Great, now I can blame you if we get yelled at." Kerrigan jokes.

"My one weakness, responsibility!" I make fake gurgling sounds with a wide grin, hand on my chest, and the Ghost breaks out laughing.

The gurgling turns real and have to reach for my inhaler quickly before suffocating. "Are you okay?" Kerrigan asks with eyebrows raised in worry.

"Asthma sucks." I cough, feeling my throat relax. I wonder whose brain scan was used to make the Psi Emitter. My thoughts turn back to the original subject without even thinking about it.

"I don't know." Is all Kerrigan says. "I just hope we never have to use it again."

"Agreed… is there anything you do in your spare time?"

The Ghost blinks. "I… Like to sing." She says embarrassed.

"Really?" I never thought that a killing machine would take up such a peaceful hobby. "Could you treat me sometime? I bet you sound like the angel you look like."

She nods. "What about you?"

"Rifling, just because I can't be a marine doesn't mean I can't learn to shoot a gun." I answer eagerly.

"For someone who says he can't fight for health reasons, you certainly make me doubt that." Kerrigan claims.

"Anyone can fight, I can't be in the Marines because of health issues." If I had an asthma attack while fighting hand to hand, that would be the end of me. "And then I became Magistrate and now I'm told I doubly can't fight."

"Enjoying the Goliath I got you?"

"Yes." I nod furiously. That thing lets me be on the frontline from the safety of a mech cockpit. "I cannot thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to fight with the troops."

She smiles. "I knew you'd like it."

"Adjutant." I turn to the mobile unit.

"Yes, Magistrate."

"Remind me to get Kerrigan something nice, she deserves it."

"Reminder set."

"You don't have to-"

"I don't, but I want to." I rest a hand on hers. "Thank you, it's because of you that we were able to get off of Antiga Prime."

"But you're the reason why we stopped to help them." She reminds me.

Thank you for helping so much… Serah.

` The speakers pipe up. "I want all hands at the ready for Duke's signal." Mengsk's voice booms, ruining the moment.

Conflict fills me, on one hand I want to be ready with my troops, but on the other hand I don't want this moment to end. "We can meet again later." She gives me a genuine smile.

We approach the door together, it's when it opens that I notice that our hands never broke contact. "Magistrate, we need to be ready to-" Raynor then notices Serah holding my hand, and falls quiet.

You're not doing anything wrong, Serah. I tear my eyes from my Angel. "Yes Captain?"

Raynor clears his throat. "We need to be ready to mobilize, Mengsk sounds almost excited and I don't want to be the one to put a damper on it."

"Serah, I want you to tell Simmons to destroy any Psi Emitters we have left, I need to rally the Refugees."

"Yes, Max." Kerrigan pulls her hand away to give me a salute, and then cloaks.

"You're one lucky son of a-" Raynor starts, but I stop him.

"Cloaking isn't teleportation, she's still right here… And I do think of myself as Lucky, but not for the reason you're thinking." I adjust my collar. "I'm lucky to have been Mar Sara's Magistrate, I'm Lucky I had such devoted officers like Simmons, Graves, and Serah, I'm Lucky you were my Marshal, and now my Captain, I'm lucky that the Sons of Korhal came to my aid, I do think of myself as Lucky, maybe abnormally so, but that's life." I tap Raynor's marine armor. "No hard feelings, I'll be your wingman when you find your gal." I give him a stupid grin.

Raynor takes a deep breath. "I'm Lucky you're my Magistrate." He finally says.

"That's the spirit! Let's get ready for the next mission."

Circled around a holo communicator is Graves's Siege Tank, Raynor's Vulture, my Goliath, and our respective squads just behind them.

Already gathered in lines by the bay doors is every Dropship onboard the Hyperion, the engineering teams are scrambling across the busy floor making sure everything is ready to go. The entirety of the Hyperion is waiting with bated breath for Duke's go ahead.

Gathered directly around the communicator is Raynor, Graves, Myself, some engineers performing frantic last minute checks on the vehicles, and Sarah. We've been waiting for an hour now.

"Mind revving the vulcan turret Lieutenant?" An engineer asks her, and she complies. My Goliath's turret spins to life.

"No jams, okay we're good." The engineer gives me a thumbs up.

I lean against the leg of my Skybreaker. "There's only so many times you can test our weapons." I tell the Engineer.

"I know, don't tell me how to do my job." The Engineer stresses.

"Must be huge if the entire engineering staff is performing last minute checks, over and over again."

The Engineer looks at me. "It's the largest assault we've ever staged, of course we're going to be on edge!"

"You make it sound like we're going to attack Tarsonis." Raynor notes.

The engineer shrugs in response, moving onto the next Goliath. "Sounds like we're going to be waiting for awhile it seems." I let out a sigh and climb into my Goliath. "Comfy?" I ask Serah, sitting with my back against the reinforced glass.

"Whoever I stole this from put a lot of effort in making sure it would be." Kerrigan nods, shifting in the seat.

"It also had to be rebuilt as I lost that one to a Scourge bombing run." Simmons is a great engineer.

Serah simply nods. "All soldiers of the Sons of Korhal." Mengsk appears on the communicator. "Duke has succeeded in punching a hole to the surface of Tarsonis, it's time to rid the universe of the Confederacy once and for all!" A massive cheer goes up.

"We're actually Sieging Tarsonis." I breathe. The rest of the Skybreakers activate their Goliath's.

"I don't like this." Raynor says suspiciously.

"You don't think…" Serah asks me.

"It's a possibility, but for now we have to be ready to mobilize." I push myself off the glass and the Angel gets out of my seat, letting me pilot the mech to join up with the other Skybreakers.

Graves's Shock'n Awe tanks take up three dropship vehicle bays, my squad takes up one, Raynor and his Rangers completely fill up a dropship, both the vehicle bay and the infantry hold.

I've never been part of an invasion before. With stress taking hold I take deep breaths to calm myself. "It'll be like when you hot dropped in the middle of the Zerg." Serah tells me reassuringly. "Only… more explosions."

"Thanks."

The Ghost pulls out her rifle. "I'll be right here for the impact."

"Are you sure?" I ask skeptically. "If we hotdrop you won't have anything supporting you."

"I'm a Ghost, it'll be fine." She gives me a sly smile.

I doubt it, but won't push the issue any further. The Hyperion warps, and I can feel it, my mind is pulled in four ways.

"Psi Emitters." Serah gags while shivering.

Horror spreads across our faces. "No." I breathe out in horror. "The bodycount will be in the trillions, even if we were to begin evacuations now." I watch her face drain of color.

Kerrigan punches the transmission button. "Who authorized Psi Emitters?!" She demands.

"I did, Lieutenant." Arcturus Mengsk growls.

'I will rule, or watch this system burn around me.' A phantasmal voice echoes in my mind, and it doesn't look like Serah was reading my mind when it happened.

Stunned, she leans back, ending the transmission. "Why?" She wonders meekly.

"He doesn't care about humanity." With shaking hands I reach down for the repurposed mini-fridge and open it. Secured inside is the Portable Adjutant unit, plugged into the Goliath, another reason why Simmons is a genius.

"You keep it here?" Serah asks as I pull the briefcase out and open it.

"Adjutant, monitor and record any and all communications going to or from the Hyperion, time stamp the recordings and make sure you remain undetected."

"Yes, Magistrate."

With my orders issued, I replace the Mobile Adjutant back in the fridge and lock it shut. "I always keep this thing close, it's impossible to replace."

"Magistrate?" Mengsk's voice comes in on the Goliath's comms.

I hold a finger to my mouth and Serah nods. "Yes sir?" I respond to the transmission.

"As a desperate measure the Confederates have activated several Psi emitters, by the time we destroy them it'll be too late and the planet will be consumed, we need to make the most out of this opportunity."

"I knew I felt something." I feign ignorance.

"...I want you to set down and start the evacuation." Mengsk informs me and I let out a sigh of relief. "The Protoss have beaten us to the planet and are killing everything on the planet as a precaution, I want you to send the lieutenant to New Gettysburg to deal with them."

I look to Serah, and she nods. "Yes sir." I say once more, and the transmission cuts.

"Looks like he doesn't want me to know that He planted the Psi Emitters." I tap the transmission button after I've finished speaking. "People of Mar Sara and of Antiga Prime we have our orders, the Zerg have beaten us to Tarsonis and are murdering everything that blinks, even though they're Confederates there are still innocent people down there, unaware of the hell their leaders have put us through because of the Zerg." I clear my throat, hearing my voice echo in the speakers in the hangar. "There won't be a reserve for this one, every available soldier is to go planetside and show them the same mercy they tried to starve us of, no matter what happens today the Confederacy is no more. What makes things worse is that the Protoss are also here and are doing the same thing as the Zerg, this is the ultimate test of our resolve, let's show these Xeno Freaks what humans are made out of!"

I can hear the infantry in the dropship cheer. "When you're done with the protoss, fall back to my position and we'll get you offworld." I tell Serah.

"If you leave me behind, I'll haunt you from beyond the grave." She responds jokingly.

"Can ghosts do that?" A Ghost and death have never been in the same sentence before, unless it's 'Ghost's cause death in others'.

Serah shrugs in reply. The dropship lifts off. "Where too?" Aaila asks.

Because of course it's Aaila. "We're setting down in the most populated part of the planet to begin evacuation, Kerrigan is taking a small army with her to fight the Protoss."

"Roger that, don't mind the bumps, that'll just be the war going on around us." Aaila says with a straight voice.

"Your prefered habitat." I say with an equally straight voice, getting chuckles from the rest of the Skybreakers on board.

We were in the sky for over an hour before the red lights turned on, warning us of the impending hotdrop. "Hope being a Ghost means you're immune to velocity." I tell Serah, genuinely worried.

"Almost." She admits.

"What do you-" The bottom of the dropship opens, dropping four Goliaths to the ground, a quick look around shows that the other eight Skybreakers were dropped at the same time as we were.

We hit the ground, the Goliath's shock absorbers taking the impact again. "Secure a perimeter so that reinforcements can land!" I yell into the local coms. Serah jumps out of the Goliath and starts shooting.

We're surrounded by Zerg and Protoss battling, the contrast between these ancient foes is astounding. A command center drops out of the sky, crushing a group of battling Zerglings and Protoss Knights, the ramp lowers and a group of SCV's emerge. "Command Center deployed." Simmons announces.

Dropships land and unload, then load up on civilians. "Raynor! Set up manned defences in the nearby skyscrapers." I shout into the coms.

"On it!"

And then Shock'n Awe hot drops in Siege mode, and the fighting ramps up to eleven as the shock cannons blast holes in the battling Xeno lines on both fronts. "Those tanks aren't going to last long on their own, move Skybreakers!" Already now there are Zerglings hopping onto the tanks, trying to burrow into the neosteel plating and get at the crew while the cannon's fire.

A barracks lands on a line of slithering Zerg while a factory crushes a mechanical Protoss shooting plasma at it. The Skybreakers are now forming a protective line around the Shock'n Awe tanks.

There is a roar as an Ultra-Zerg charges for the command center. "Route an inbound fabricator into that thing."

A starport about to land stops, and moves to intercept as Shock cannonfire lights the Ultra-Zerg up, but it doesn't slow down. "For Aiur!" A nearby Protoss knight shouts, charging for the enormous Zerg.

"Protoss can speak?" A Skybreaker exclaims.

"Focus, clear the landing zone and keep enemy air broken." I turn my Goliath to shoot at a group of Zerglings running for the Shock'n awe tanks, I don't lose sight of the Ultra while firing.

And i got a spectacular view of the impact, the knight kept the Ultra distracted long enough for the Starport to get above, then the adjutant made it pull maneuvers I've never thought a building would be able to pull, and thrusts downwards towards the bladed behemoth, crushing it under the weight of a structure that's it's size.

"Zerg forces in the immediate area have been wiped out, and Protoss forces are in retreat." The Command Center's Adjutant informs me.

"Alright everyone, get a defensive perimeter up and make sure the evacuation goes smoothly." I march the Goliath around the town square we've set up in. "Serah, take whatever forces you need before you leave." I say.

No response, but I know she heard me. The Shock'n Awe tanks begin the lengthy unsieging process.

"Square Secured!" Raynor calls out.

"Start the evacuation, then we're going to wipe the Zerg off of this planet."


	13. Chapter 13

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 13: Rebel Yell**

"Base is secure." A Marine informs me.

"And the dropships?"

"First group is already heading for the Hyperion."

"Great, we've moving out to eradicate the Zerg, there's no way I'm letting the Zerg take another world from us."

"Delay that order Magistrate." Suddenly Mengsk's voice crackles to life in my Goliath's coms. "The Zerg are keeping the Confederates pinned and if we interfere they'll escape and continue using the Zerg to ravage other worlds."

"They're also slaughtering civilians left and right, I can't sit here and-"

"Evacuate the ones who aren't being eviscerated first, no sense in spending resources evacuating past enemy lines when we still have people we can safely get offworld." Mengsk says patronizingly.

"... Yes sir." I turn my attention back to the marine. "Cancel that order, we're staying put until we've fully evacuated the area, then we'll move on."

"Double transport numbers?" The Marine wonders.

"Sounds like a great idea, Adjutant!"

"Scrambling every transport under your direct control."

"Not everything?" I furrow my brow.

"Alpha Squadron is holding in orbit with Arcturus's forces."

I grumble under my breath. "Is there a battlecruiser we can route from the main fleet?"

"Request pending, will provide an update as soon as possible."

We're fighting the Zerg without orbital support… "Simmons?"

"I hear you."

"I want you to take a car, and stick a flamethrower on it."

"Sir?"

"Take a car." I enunciate. "Stick a flamethrower on it, and tell me the results."

"I'll… see what I can do."

"Skybreakers we're heading in the direction of the Zerg Hive, just because we're ordered to ignore them doesn't mean we're to neglect the coming attacks."

"Oh and Simmons, I want more flying bricks to drop on the Zerg, it seemed to have worked on the big blade armed thing… Starports but without the fabrication matrix's."

"You did wh-" He starts shouting at me, but I cut the comms before he could blow my eardrums out.

"Okay Skybreakers, let's get these people out of here, Shock'n Awe I want you providing covering fire." If we're not getting orbital, I'm certainly getting artillery.

"Halfway unsieged." Graves informs us.

"Rotate to the eastern front, we'll evacuate as close as we can to the Zerg before Mengsk gets mad at us." I say and my fellow Skybreaker pilots chuckle.

"Picking up movement in the store." A Skybreaker informs me.

I flick on the megaphone. "Attention citizens of the Confederacy, we're here to-" Several spine spitting Zerg emerge from the building, hissing and growling. "Open fire!"

A Scythe arm hits the reinforced glass of my cockpit, but no marks. The gunfire killing the snake on the other hand, leaves small cracks in the glass that's hit. "Remind me to thank whoever designed the Goliath." I say as a Skybreaker stomps on the head of an attacking Snake.

"Amen brother." A Zergling hops on top of a Goliath, and in response the Pilot makes the mech jump to throw it off.

"I've never seen a Goliath jump before, mind giving me some pointers after this is all over?" I say impressed.

"Can do." The Pilot says with pride, stomping the dismounted Zergling into the pavement.

I turn on the megaphone once more. "Citizens of the Confederacy, we're here to help, the Zerg are overrunning the planet and the Protoss will turn the surface into Glass soon, I repeat, Citizens of the Confederacy, we're here to help-"

We pass another block and a group of people bolt out of a home and sprint for us, several Zerg unburrow around us. "Put guns on Automatic, we can't risk hitting civilians." I flick a switch and the onboard targeting takes control of the vulcan turret beneath the chassis.

Accurate fifty caliber ammunition rips through the Zerg, but they don't go down fast enough to prevent casualties. "We've cleared the way back to base, move!" One of the Skybreakers yells at the fleeing civilians.

"Keep going, we have to rescue as many as we can!" I shout, marching ahead.

"This is Graves, Shock'n Awe is sieged and ready to provide artillery support."

"Shock'n Awe there is a group of civilians enbound, keep an eye on them and let us know if any Zerg slip behind us."

"I can see a bridge a few blocks out and to your left, it looks like the only way across to this part of the city." A Shock'n Awe crew captain informs us.

"We'll push across the bridge and bring back as many as we can." A plan is already forming.

"Better hurry, more of that creepy stuff is rushing towards it and… What is it doing to the buildings?" Graves's disgust and horror comes across clearly. "It's just like Blackwater station." He breathes.

The infested command center. "Double time!" if they infest homes… what happens to the people inside? A shiver goes down my spine as horrible thoughts run through my mind.

A detachment of Zerg are watching the bridge, not enough to stop our charge, but enough to damage one of my squadmate's leg motor. His Goliath is dragging itself along with its functional leg. "I have to go back for repairs."

"Do it, we'll manage."

The Goliath pathetically limps back the way we came, hopefully there aren't any Zerg laying in wait for him.

Upon seeing us, a ton of civilians make a break for the bridge, fleeing from the incoming infestation, and out from these infested buildings are what can only be described as Zombies. "The only mercy we can give them is death, keep them away from the clean civilians." I say as my heart drops to my stomach, watching as the contorted bodies of the infested civilians fall with human screams.

"This ain't right." A squadmate notes.

"Shock'n Awe, once we clear the bridge I want it gone."

"Understood." Graves can see the infestation, and he's as discouraged as I am.

"Adjutant, record my Goliath's visuals." I tell the mobile Adjutant in my Goliath, off of coms. "If there's any argument about using the Zerg as a weapon, I want to show them this."

The infestation reaches the foot of the bridge, but there's still civilians coming across. "Sir, it'll spread to this side."

"I know, but we aren't leaving anyone behind."

"Airborn Zerg inbound!"

"We aren't Skybreakers for nothing!" I turn my Goliath to face the threat and let the missiles fly, the flying snakes shriek as shrapnel shreds their wings, and forcing them to the ground. Enormous glaives strike the Goliath, one breaks into the glass but doesn't go any further.

"Cloud!" A Skybreaker shrieks as the largest cloud we've ever seen rises from the Zerg hive.

The Scourge cloud speeds towards us, being urged on by an unseen force, there is a roar, then explosions rip the cloud apart as the first wave of artillery shells strike. "Can't miss a target that big!" Graves boasts.

"Are you secretly a Skybreaker?" I joke with the sergeant, who laughs in reply. A stray artillery shell strikes one of the flying zerg assaulting the bridge, and the explosion knocks a Skybreaker out of commission. "Watch your fire!"

"Who shot that!" Graves demands, and there's a series of denials.

"Is he still alive?" Ten skybreakers remain standing, but not for long.

"That looks to be the last of them."

"Good, fall back! Shock'n Awe you are clear to fire." We turn our Goliaths around and sprint for safety as we can see the Shock'n Awe tanks fire from this distance.

Firebats and marines vacate a nearby apartment complex, escorting civilians towards the base.

Raynor's Rangers are getting at the places the Skybreakers can't hope to get to. "Keep it up, we'll provide anti air support." I tell the infantry.

More explosions around us. "Shock'n Awe I order you to stop firing! You are firing too close to friendlies!" I shout at the Shock'n Awe company.

"WHO THE HELL IS SHOOTING AT THE MAGISTRATE!?" I can hear the sergeant scream, followed again by a string of denials. "Standby until I tell you to fire, and where!" Even if I was deaf I'd have been able to hear that.

"Find the culprit, I don't fancy dying out here."

This time I was watching when the next wave hits, demolishing the nearby buildings. None of the Shock'n Awe company had fired.

The bodyparts that were sent flying, it makes me sick to my stomach. "Find whoever's shooting at the Magistrate, and castrate the bitch!"

I don't think I've ever seen a man get this angry before. "Full retreat!" I yell at my squad, and just as fast as we made it to the bridge, we fall back.

"Eyes on artillery origin, three clicks south, one click north of Zerg hive, confirm?" A Skybreaker shouts.

"Rotating turret, have eyes on enemy siege- Mother of mercy." Graves says. "They've infested Siege Tanks!"

"Just what we need, our own hardware being turned against us." I scoff. "You are free to return fire."

"My pleasure." Flashes from Shock'n Awe, we're close enough to hear the booms. And then they light up as the retaliation hits, only a few actually hit the tanks, but the explosion size is big enough to not matter too much. A couple of the tanks are immediately taken out of the fight.

"You alright Graves?"

"Th-ly-urt-pr-de, se-d-vo!" Sounds like the damage isn't serious enough to stop the uninfested tanks from firing another barrage.

We finally reach the relative safety of the Siege Tank line, and another Skybreaker is taken out along with a Shock'n Awe tank. I turn my goliath around just in time to see the next return volley, and I accelerate my Goliath out of the firing line, in the opposite direction.

More of the Shock'n Awe company is taken out of the fight, what remains fires back, and silence falls over the long range battle. The coms crackle for a short time, and then the remaining siege tanks begin unsieging, at least the three that still can, five are still functional, but unless they can unsiege they're being left behind.

The surviving crew get out of their tanks and climb aboard the surviving ones. The remaining Skybreakers surround the vulnerable tanks as much as we can, waiting eagerly for them to move.

In the distance I can see several squads move from building to building, scouring the city district for survivors. I'm not an engineer and yet I know that my squad needs repairs before we can return to the fray.

"What did you do to them!?" Simmons screeches as the engineering bay doors open and in comes both the broken Goliaths and Siege Tanks.

I stop my Goliath on a conveyor belt, and hop out. "Turns out that the Zerg can infest terran hardware, and turn it against us." I inform the engineer as a second Goliath steps onto the conveyor belt.

"Had to leave a couple tanks behind due to the damages from the battle." Graves hops out of his tank and joins me.

"What were you fighting?" Simmons calms down, but is deeply concerned.

"Infested Siege Tanks in Siege Mode." Graves says gravely.

"You're kidding."

"No."

I clear my throat. "Simmons, is there anything experimental we can field?"

"I modified a squad cruiser and bolted a perdition turret to the top, it can be controlled by the pilot, a gunner, or the onboard AI, but I haven't had the chance to do any testing yet as my engineers and I have been swamped with repairing everything."

"I'll field test it." I offer.

"The Magistrate, our leader, field testing experimental weaponry?" Graves asks as if I'd gone insane. "I'll do it."

"You can be in a marine suit and still be able to function like a soldier while I can't, I'll pilot it, end of discussion." I say pulling rank.

Silence.

"Hop on in, and I'll tell you how it works." Simmons says.

"I'll wait for my tank to be repaired, if you don't mind." Graves says bitterly.

I pop open the door and sit down. "Is this the same material as my Goliath's seat?" I ask, settling in the comfy seat.

Simmons nods. "Here's the key, you've driven a car before right?"

"A few times before I became Magistrate, someone else drove for me after." I explain, sticking the key into the ignition and turning it on. "Which of these shoots fire, I don't want to burn the Engineering bay to the ground accidentally."

"Big red button on the panel that was obviously grafted in, the switches control flame intensity and turret orientation, the small blue button beneath the big one sets the turret to automatic."

"Does the gunner ride shotgun?"

"Yes, for now… This is a prototype." He reminds me. "The panel can be moved so the gunner can use it easier."

I rotate the panel towards the passenger seat, then back to me. "How about you be the gunner and I'll be the driver, you just said that you aren't an experienced driver and the battlefield isn't the place to learn how to drive."

"You can't leave your Shock'n Awe without leadership, the turret can be set to auto so I won't be splitting my attention. Look I get it, but I'm not helpless and I'm not inept at fighting, I think the Skybreakers can attest to that."

"I'll ride with you, just for the test run." Simmons says as a compromise.

"That I will allow." I'd be insane to try out new hardware without the creator watching closely for errors that I couldn't couldn't possibly notice until all that's left of me is ash.

Simmons hops into the passenger seat and turns the panel towards him. "I'm limiting use of this to inside the base, okay?"

"Understood."

"Oh, so you'll listen to him but not me?"

"One wants to take me out of the fight entirely, the other wants to make sure this doesn't get whoever's driving killed."

"You fill me with so much confidence."

"Can it Graves, this is warfare." I wish people would stop thinking I'm fragile. I've been in scraps before, and It's not as if I don't know why they are so protective, it's just annoying. "Did you modify how it drives?"

"Nope."

I press down on the gas and slowly drive the experimental flamer out of the engineering bay and to a clearing in the base, where we won't scorch anything. Simmons rotates the turret and fires it. I watch as a stream of liquid green flame erupts from the nozzle, leaving a trail of flame in a straight line burning the ground like the Greek Fire I've read about in Earth History back when I was first training to be Magistrate. "How'd you get it to stick around?" I ask the engineer.

"I had to think on how to increase the pressure so that could have some range, and turning vespene into a liquid combustion agent was the first thing that came to mind."

"Is it using the gas tank that leads to the engine?" I wonder.

"No, I attached a second tank just for the flamer."

"Good." At least i don't have to worry about being stranded out there. "Can someone get the Mobile Adjutant out of my damaged Goliath? It's my only connection to the base while I'm out."

"Parker!" Simmons leans out the window.

"Yes boss?"

"Get the briefcase from the Magistrate's Goliath, it's in the remodeled mini fridge."

"On it."

"Is there a place to secure it in here?"

Simmon's looks me dead in the eye. "I wasn't expecting you to be test driving this into a warzone."

"Desperate times, the infantry will need support."

"I know better than to question you, you've successfully lead us through two Zerg invasions." Simmons says respectfully.

I turn my attention back to graves. "Once your tanks are up and running, I'll need Shock'n Awe back on overwatch just in case they get more infested tanks."

I'm handed the mobile unit and I pop it open. "Transmission to the Hyperion detected."

"Patch it through." I hold a finger to my lips, looking at the three men with me.

"This is Kerrigan, the Protoss are dealt with and there's a wave of Zerg incoming on my location, requesting immediate evac."

"Good work." Mengsk praises the ghost.

"Incoming transmission, patching it through."

"All forces pull back, the protoss have been dealt with but the damage has been done, Tarsonis is gone."

"What about Serah?" I question cautiously.

"They're dead." Mengsk lies, and my blood begins to boil.

"Bullshit!" I mend the transmission. "Adjutant, keep me tuned into any transmission coming to and from the Hyperion, route all available forces to New Gettysburg, we're rescuing her."

"Yes Magistrate." The Adjutant loyally tells me.

"Why would Mengsk just abandon his own troops like that?" Simmons asks, clearly mortified.

"Uh guys, where's that Evac?" Serah asks.

"Open a channel to New Gettysburg."

"Channel open."

"Serah I'm on my way, hold out for as long as you can."

"Glad to know that I'm not being left behind." She says relieved.

"I'm going against orders, I'm not letting my Angel die!" I turn the car towards the starport.

"What?" The Angel sounds betrayed, and it sends a spike through my heart.

"Mengsk ordered a full retreat, tried telling me that you were already dead." I explain. "I'm monitoring all transmissions from the Hyperion so I knew otherwise."

"And if you weren't?" She asks.

"I still would have tried contacting you, I love you." A single tear falls. "I want every Dropship ready, we're saving our people."

"But what about Mengsk's order?" Aaila asks concerned.

"He wants to leave an entire detachment behind, nobody gets left behind on my watch."

"Understood, I'll come back around once I've dropped off this load."

"Thank you." Kerrigan's voice is full of emotion.

Replacement vehicles start rolling off the factory ramps, and eager pilots take up their new armaments, I jump out of the car and quick march towards a Goliath, briefcase tucked under my arm.

A Pilot takes the Goliath I was walking towards and rides it towards me. "Here you go sir!" She's a Skybreaker.

"Get another Goliath, we're hot dropping into New Gettysburg."

Simmon's drives the car up beside my new Goliath, this one isn't as comfortable and doesn't have a fridge to store the briefcase. "No time for controlled tests, I guess?"

"Nope."

"Then I'll join you out in the battlefield."

"But you're an engineer."

"But you're a Magistrate."

I let out a laugh. "Fair enough, don't get killed out there."

"Yes sir!"

Slowly but surely, everyone's turning into a soldier.

The wait is killing me, It's an hour flight but every moment could be her last. We don't have the firepower to kill the Ultra Zerg, but we've brought some flying bricks to fix that.

"New Gettysburg in sight, prepare for hot drop." Aaila informs us.

"You heard her!" I shout at my fellow Skybreakers. "When we drop, crush as many as possible and clear a LZ for the dropship to land."

"Hey magistrate." Simmons's voice comes up on the local comms.

"Yes?"

"I had an idea and filled a few dropships with vespene bombs, so don't mind the fire when you drop."

"You brilliant man, I want those bombs used to cut off Zerg reinforcements if at all possible."

"Cloud!" A pilot exclaims.

"Intercepting." A wraith bravely informs us.

"Prepare for hot drop." Aaila warns.

"Bombs away!" Another pilot cheers.

The floor opens and we're dropped into hell's maw. "Calvary's here." I say, anger making my hands shake.

No battlecruiser above us, we're on our own. Explosions rip through the noisy air, completely and utterly destroying pathways into new Gettysburg. "I've never been happier to see you in my life." Serah says, filling me with hope.

"How many are still alive?"

"Three hundred."

We hit the ground before I could respond, in the midst of a swarm of Zerglings, a great many are crushed under the Goliaths, and then Shock'n Awe hot drops in siege mode, crushing more Zerg than my Skybreakers did, but this isn't about the kill count. "Brick one I see an ultra, take it out." The barracks I've dubbed the 'flying bricks' fly overhead, one splits off from the rest and flips around to use it's thrusters to increase its speed on the collision course with the ultra in question.

It sees the barracks coming for it, roars and charges towards it. Neither one makes it out in one piece. "Flying bricks you are to only target ultras, have fun."

The flying bricks split up, choosing targets. There are so many Ultras here, the Zerg desperately want something here dead.

Just as I'm thinking that the LZ is clear, a Zergling breaks through the reinforced glass and into my Goliath to grab me. I can't help but scream as it pulls on me, trying to drag me out of the mech, the straps snap and my mask falls off.

And then the Zergling goes limp, a Ghost uncloaking behind the corpse with a rifle on the base of its neck. "I've never seen one try to kidnap someone before." She jokes.

"Thanks for the Assist, Serah." I cough, barely able to breathe.

I fumble for my Inhaler so I can breathe once more.

A dropship lands and out come infantry and Simmon's flame car. "Time to get out of here." I tell my Angel with a joy filled smile.

"There's so many Zerg here."

"We've cut off Zerg reinforcements, we'll make it." I say, but i'm not as sure, I thought the psi emitter on Antiga Prime summoned a ton of Zerg. "And then we'll make Mengsk regret betraying us."

The line is being held and the exhausted soldiers left for dead are being evacuated, where to I don't know… But we'll figure it out.

"Look out!" I shout as a Zergling jumps for the hole in the Goliath.

Serah spins around with rifle ready, but then a stream of flame consumes the Zergling, it falls short of the Goliath thrashing in pain as the flames consume it. "You need to get out of here!" Simmons shouts, seeing the giant hole.

"Simmons?!" Serah's eyes widen.

"He volunteered to come, and made that thing himself." I say with pride as another flying brick hits an Ultra.

"Not going to lie, I would never have thought of either of these things." Kerrigan says as I turn the Goliath around and walk towards a landed Dropship.

"We'll make it out of this." I say reassuringly, starting to believe it myself.

"Cloud!" A Skybreaker shouts, firing rockets into the sky.

Above us our wraiths are being pursued by an enormous cloud of spaced out Scourges. Each rocket only kills a couple rather than a massive chain reaction, a Shock'n Awe blast kills more, but it's nowhere near enough to take out the cloud anytime soon.

A giant mutated earthworm breaches the ground in the middle of Serah's nearly destroyed base, and our pours so many Zerg that it's impossible to see the worm anymore. "No…" I breathe in horror.

If we can't thin the numbers, then we'll have to leave people behind to protect the fleeing dropships. I look back and forth between my Skybreakers, and Serah Kerrigan.

I know what I must do. "Skybreaker's we're-" I'm interrupted by an angelic kiss, stealing my thoughts from me.

Tears fall from the ghost's closed eyes as the domination takes hold, leaving Maxton Dirge an empty shell. She's not going to let him kill himself, not for her. She pulls away, having psychic dominated the only one she's ever loved. "Skybreakers, Lieutenant Kerrigan will be staying behind with you to ensure the safety of the dropships, there's too many Zerg for everyone to get out of this… it was a pleasure serving with you." She makes him say, sending daggers through her heart.

"No magistrate, it was a pleasure to serve with you." A Skybreaker says with pride, and the others agree.

The Shock'n Awe tanks had been unsieging to reposition before the Worm showed up, but now they're fleeing into a dropship to escape. A Seige Tank isn't useful when overrun.

Kerrigan hops off the Goliath and makes Max walk the Goliath into the dropship, it closes and readies for infantry to load.

Rangers fall back from the incoming horde of Zerg and flood into the dropships. Raynor stops by Kerrigan. "You coming, Darlin?"

"No, I'm staying behind to make sure you boys can get out of here."

Raynor raises an eyebrow. "And Max is going to let you do that?"

"Not that he has a choice." Kerrigan says, swallowing the bitter pill. "Get out of here, cowboy… And I don't know, if Max wasn't around then maybe we could have been something." Raynor's thoughts are displayed like a billboard for her to read.

"Thank you, and I'm sorry that it had to end like this."

"Yeah, same here." They shake hands, and Raynor and his Rangers file onto the dropship, filling it up.

"Thank you for your sacrifices." Aaila says on the speaker. "We will remember you for all of our lives." The dropship takes off, flying for safety.

The Cloud gives chase, but the anti air of the Skybreakers and Wraiths force it to change targets.

One by one the Skybreakers fall, but not without a fight. Until it's only the ghost, surrounded by Zerg. She smiles, drops her rifle, closes her eyes, and cries silently.

Then the Zerg jump on her.

There is an awkward silence as the fighting is over, and then there's a telepathic explosion of pure rage with only one word. "MENGSK!" ringing across the entire planet of Tarsonis as the realization of the loss overwhelms the magistrate, leaving rage where once was love.

The Mengsk in question opens a direct channel to Duke. "Activate Tarsonis's Ion Cannon, the 'Magistrate' has turned traitor."

"Yes sir." A smile spreads across the general's face.

"I will rule this system, or watch it burn around me." He says with a dark grin, and starts chuckling as victory is finally within his grasp, the Confederacy is gone and the people look to him for protection. Nothing can get in his way now.

 **End of Act One**

Authors Notes: Thank you to everyone who's read and enjoyed this, and if you didn't enjoy it, thank you for reading, this isn't the end of Magistrate to Commander, but I'll be taking a bit of a break (one Month) to plan out the next act a bit and decide where I want everything to go, and once again, thank you.


	14. Chapter 14

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 14: Vindictive Rebellion**

Act 2

"Protoss and Zerg forces sighted."

"Set us down, they're going to need our help." I tell the pilot through my suit's communicator.

"Roger that."

"Do not fire on the Protoss forces." They're our only ticket off this planet, since the Sons of Korhal are in control over the orbital defenses.

I can feel the dropship touch down, light spills in as the doors open, revealing the skirmish. For once there isn't an overwhelming number of Zerg. "Establish a perimeter, do not fire on the Protoss."

A dozen marines charge out around me. Part of me wonders where all the Zerg went since the Sons of Korhal shut off the Psi Emitters, but the rest of me doesn't care… The Zerg will get what's coming to them.

I scan the battlefield, looking for what might look like a Protoss officer, but so far all I'm seeing is warriors and those spider legged things. "We'll need another Dropship here for the Protoss armor."

"On my way." A loyal Pilot informs.

This is the third group we've found, but no leaders, but at least we don't have to explain ourselves anymore as word seems to have gotten out amongst the Protoss forces that we're aiming to evacuate survivors.

An electrical storm erupts, covering the Protoss retreat, and hope rises as a Protoss who's clearly not a warrior emerges, escorted by a few of the warriors. "I think we've found who we're looking for." I tell the Pilot of my current dropship. "Next stop is the Command Center."

"Roger."

The protoss throws an arm out and summons another storm. "Greetings, Executor Terran."

Executor? "Name's Max, are you a commander?"

"I am Tassadar, Executor of the protoss force here on Tarsonis." The protoss introduces himself.

If 'Executor' means what I think it means, Jackpot. "We need to head back to base, in the meantime we need to talk." I turn to enter the Dropship.

"I can feel your anguish, Executor-"

"Later." Great, they're telepaths… that explains how word got out. "We need to get offworld first."

"Understood." Tassadar nods in understanding. The dropship doors close as the dropship reaches capacity, I sit across from Tassadar, my guards at my sides, as his are beside him.

"Have you splintered off from your main force?" Tassadar asks, genuinely curious.

They don't have mouths, how do they- "Yes, we split off from the Sons of Korhal when Mengsk tried sacrificing a quarter of my forces to the Zerg after using them to distract your forces, Executor." I explain, the bitterness slipping out.

"You lost someone important to you, didn't you?" I'm not sure what tone Tassadar's speaking to me with, or how he's speaking for that matter.

"To the Zerg, yes." It should have been me. "I want to make Mengsk pay, for what he did to her, and to Tarsonis."

"How did Mengsk lure the Zerg to Tarsonis?"

I sigh, and then tell him what I know about the Psi Emitters, how we got them, where, and why I endorsed the use of it on Antiga prime. "And to top it all off… it was my Brain Scan that was used to make it possible." I knew it the moment I realized what Serah did… The psi Emitters were echos of my pain.

"That explains why we felt as though something was being tortured." Tassadar muses.

Yup, Psionic. "Mengsk left a blockade of Battlecruisers surrounding the planet, if either of us wants to get offworld we need to take care of them."

"If you can find a probe, I can warp in structures and gather the rest of my forces and punch through it."

"Not a chance, Gen-Executor Edmund Duke got control over Tarsonis's defences, including the Ion Cannons, any fleet you could muster would drop out of the sky like flies once those start firing." I shake my head.

"What would you propose instead?"

"We're going to take control of the Ion Cannons, and turn them on the Battlecruisers, force some Yamato's out of them or risk losing ships."

"Magistrate." Graves voice comes over the coms.

"Yes Sergeant?"

"Alpha Squadron tanks moving into firing position."

"Have they spotted you?"

"Course not."

"Hit them while they're Sieging."

The coms crackles as Graves cuts the transmission. "If what you say is true, Mengsk's forces will protect the cannons with everything, how're we going to get close?"

"That's where you come in, Executor Tassadar." I look the Protoss in the eyes. "My men will distract Alpha Squadron and the Sons of Korhal in a way that leaves a corridor open for your troops to slip by unnoticed."

"This is quite the task you're trusting to us, Executor Max."

"If we don't work together, neither of us are getting off of Tarsonis alive, it's a risk I'm willing to take… Inform your men, we can't wait long."

"We are connected through the Khala, they already know."

"Khala, connected?" I furrow my brow, Tassadar just nods. "So… You guys are like a semi Hive Mind?"

"Explain."

"You're connected with every Protoss, but your thoughts are your own?"

"Correct, but we aren't a Hivemind, like the Zerg are."

"Knew it… what's controlling them?"

"The Overmind." Tassadar's voice is full of spite and hatred. "It controls the Zerg along with it's cerebrates."

"When this is all over with, I want you to tell me everything you know about the Zerg." The last thing I remember is the kiss, such a bittersweet memory.

Tassadar nods. "You have my word."

"Shock'n Awe change positions to Sieging Grounds three and six."

"Moving out!"

"Wraith squadrons provide air support to Shock'n Awe."

"Roger."

"Rangers I want you on Hit and run, don't let them regroup and don't get bogged down."

"Whatever you say." Raynor responds, eager to get into the fight.

"Tassadar, stay hidden and wait for the signal."

"We are ready." Tassadar responds, it's convenient that they don't need a terran communicator to keep in touch.

"Adjutant, keep an eye on the Battlecruisers, tell me immediately if anything changes."

"Yes magistrate… Yamato signatures detected, several Alpha Squadron Battlecruisers destroyed. Incoming transmission."

"To whom am I speaking?" I demand the moment the channel opens.

"This is Matthew Horner, we've taken control over the Hyperion and a number of battlecruisers, and managed to cripple the blockade."

"You glorious bastard!" I let out a laugh. "What about Mengsk?"

"Warp signature detected leaving Tarsonis."

"He got away." Matt responds.

I let out a groan. "Chances are he bailed once the mutiny began, we're doing what we can to deal with the Ion Cannons, but it'll take time."

"Communication terminated, signal lost."

Speak of the devil. "Is that the signal you were referring too?" Tassadar wonders.

"No, but it'll do!" I hop into the flame car that Simmons left for me, and join up with the Executor's forces. "Shock'n Awe give the Protoss Siege support, we're going in!" I'm flanked by several more flame cars, or whatever Simmon's called them.

"For Auir!" A war cry erupts from the Protoss, and they charge ahead, the car just barely able to keep up.

Skyscrapers fall as artillery strikes, collapsing on top of stray Zerg Clouds, and electrical flurries take out what's left. Zerglings attempt to flank us, but these Flame Cars are more than enough to corral the creatures away from the insurgency force.

To say that we managed to charge through undetected is a bold faced lie, and I got to see firsthand how the Protoss fought Serah.

They're protected by some sort of shielding, allowing them to blindly charge into the stream of bullets, and even mortar shells as they descend upon their prey. It's a slaughter, as the plasma blades cut straight through the neosteel armor. "Terran tank sieging in the distance!" A warrior calls out.

"Take it out before it-" And it's gone as an artillery shell hits it.

"Boom baby!" Graves cheers over the comms. "That's the farthest we've ever hit!"

"Good work Sergeant, keep it up!" I can see the Command Center in the distance, we're close. "Target in sight!"

"Come warriors, victory is upon us!" Tassadar rally's his forces, and the protoss surge ahead, Dragoons blasting enemy Wraiths out of the sky, and providing ranged support, it's not as good as Shock'n Awe, but it's a giant plasma spewing shielded metal spider that can be taken cover behind. And that's fine by me.

Alpha Squadron artillery shells start striking the Protoss forces, well out of range of Shock'n Awe. "If we get bogged down we're dead men!" I shout to Tassadar.

And then the protoss air arrives, moving in ways I've never seen a wraith move. "Scouts, prioritize the terran tanks."

Without realizing it we've reached the Command center. "Last stretch, get me to the AI core and the battle's over."

Tassadar, a number of his warriors, and a few of my marines enter the Command Center. "Can't expect me to stay on the sidelines forever." Raynor flips his visor open long enough for me to acknowledge him.

"I can't imagine a better soldier by my side." I return with a grin, the briefcase is carefully tucked away beneath my arm, careful to avoid crushing it.

"Where is the AI core?" Tassadar asks.

"Center of the structure, be wary of automatic defenses." There are Ghost's in here, I can feel them. And they can feel me. "We are not alone." The ghosts disappear from my perception.

"Stay sharp my warriors." The lights turn off, the only things lighting the room are my troops flashlights, and the protoss blades.

While staying in the center of our combined forces, I lead the insurgency through the dark corridors. "Gah!" There's a gunshot, and one of my marines falls to the ground.

"Contact!" Raynor shouts, spinning with his rifle raised.

Tassadar creates a storm, blocking off half of the room we're in, frying a ghost that was expecting his cloaking to protect him.

A bullet ricochets off of the Executor's shield, and his warriors leap towards the direction of the second ghost.

Tassadar grabs me and pulls me within his shield. "If you fall, all this is for naught."

"Thanks, ghosts are terrifying." I say that, yet I fell in love with one. I let out a sigh, trying to clear my mind of the loss.

A bullet ricochets off of the shield where my head would be. "Found you!" Raynor starts shooting, forcing the ghost to run, the Protoss warriors pursue.

Before the Warriors can reach the ghost, it drops a grenade, which explodes in a bright flash of light blinding everyone.

Three more shots, and then silence. The Ghost got away, another marine has fallen. "After this, can I trouble you for some shielding tech?" I jokingly ask.

"No."

"Worth a shot." I shrug. "Someone turn the lights on, these rooms are way to big for their own good." Something to streamline with Simmons later.

"Found a switch!" One of my three remaining marines shouts, turning on the lights.

The command deck. "We're right outside the AI core, someone help me get this blast door open." Two Warriors step up and start carving away at the door. "That works."

A sharp pain and my arm falls numb. "Ghost down." A marine snarls.

"I'm hit." I hiss, holding the briefcase in my hand while I clutch the wound. "Can't feel my arm."

"Raynor to base, Magistrate's wounded, we need a medic asap."

The marine ties up the ghost, and the warriors finish cutting the door off. "I thought there were more defences."

"Chances are Duke took them out for us when he was doing what we're doing." The arrogant old man was finally useful for once.

The only thing in the AI core is the Adjutant, and some broken turrets. "Paranoid for nothing."

"Yamato signature detected, aiming for the command center."

I sprint into the room and carefully plug the mobile unit in. "Common, we don't have much time!" I hate how strong this suit is, I'd be faster without it.. But probably dead… but with two working arms.

"Adjutant online." The command center's adjutant reboots.

"Retarget the ion Cannons for Alpha Squadron and the Sons of Korhal, but leave the muitanying battlecruisers alone."

"Targeting parameters set, defence grid activated, firing."

Several battlecruisers land, hopefully they're ours. "Need a lift back to… Auir, was it?"

"There are surviving Carriers, we will be fine, Executor."

"Oh right, the linked mind thing." I cannot fathom having my thoughts open to my entire species twenty four seven. "We'll call this even, you helped me and I helped you."

"Indeed, it will be an honor to fight alongside you again." Tassadar nods, and then… vanishes? Along with his warriors.

"What the hell." Raynor breathes.

"I'm there with you Raynor… let's go find a medic, and bring our prisoner with."

Waiting for us outside the Command Center is the Hyperion, ramp lowered with a welcoming committee.

I walk aboard the Hyperion to the salutes of loyal men and women. "Welcome aboard the Hyperion, Magistrate." Matthew greets, standing at attention.

"Thank you captain, nice ship you have here." I'd shake his hand, but that arm's in a cast, and numbed to the afterlife.

"Once everyone's loaded we'll take off."

"Are the Zerg still on the planet?" I ask.

"Not nearly the same number."

"The protoss are forwarding a ton of info over Magistrate, you need to see this." Someone on the bridge says through the intercom.

"Compile it for later, I need to take a nap." Constant fighting for three days, my goliath needs more than just repairs now, it needs a miracle. "Matt, how many bodies do we have?"

"Easily over two thousand, but there hasn't been a count yet."

"Do we need repairs before going anywhere?"

"Some of the ships took heavy damage, and there's no telling what the Ion Cannon didn't fry, and-"

"I've heard enough, we'll commandeer a shipyard for a bit, and then we can start our war in full."

"You have a plan?"

"I always have a plan." I answer with a sly smile, then drop it. "But it won't be liked by most of the people here."

"Transmission open." Matthew tells me.

I pull the microphone close. "Attention loyal citizens of the Confederacy, this is Maxton Dirge, Magistrate of Mar Sara." I pull on my collar, I can't believe I'm doing this. "Tarsonis has fallen to the Zerg, the Sons of Korhal crippled the planets defences, lured the Zerg to the planet and placed a blockade in orbit to make sure no one escaped the Zerg, and as a man who was on the ground for three Zerg invasions, I can personally tell you that they leave no survivors anywhere they go." I take a deep breath. "I would like to apologize to everyone for the family and friends they've lost, as I was the one who unwittingly handed over the ultimate weapon to the Sons of Korhal, and they turned around and used it on the Confederates without batting an eyelash. I gave him the Psi Emitter, a device that calls Zerg by ringing the dinner bell and again I've personally seen the effects myself, that safety he offers is nothing but lies designed to force you to flock to him, he's not some benevolent ruler, he's a Fear Monger who would rather watch your homeworld burn to ashes than to allow it to live outside of his control-"

"Battlecruisers warping in, sir." Matthew informs me.

"Even now he moves to silence us, and if you're listening Mengsk I have only one thing left to say."

"The Confederacy hasn't died yet, not on my watch." I flick my wrist across my neck.

"Finished, recorded, and warping to the randevu." Matthew informs me, and then issues orders to the rest on his bridge.

The first barrage manages to graze the ship, but we warped out before any lasting damage can be done. "If the Sons of Korhal attack any world we need to be there to protect the people."

"You think that Confederate soldiers will join us?"

"It's either us or Mengsk, I think I made that pretty clear."

"At least one of us is optimistic."

I chuckle as I walk towards the elevator. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see how many Ghost Academy personal stowed away on our ships."


	15. Chapter 15

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 15: Maxton's Armada**

It was a mistake, most of the refugees on board are in the cargo bay, and it's jam packed. It's not so much the number of people there, it's the emotion in the air.

The fear, desperation, confusion, and uncertainty… it's making me sick, if finding Ghost Academy personal wasn't important before, it's doubly more important now. There are so many refugees that they barely have elbow room, it's only a matter of time before someone goes stir crazy.

"We need to find a safe world for the refugees." I say coming back to the bridge, my face a putrid green.

"Battlecruisers warping in... Dominion." Matt says as the sensors suddenly pick up a dozen or so enemy battlecruisers.

"We can't fight them, we have too many refugees onboard." I tell him with a burp. "If the Hyperion alone takes a hit to the cargo bay we'll lose the population equivalent of Mar Sara." We're that overcrowded.

"The warp drives are already charged."

"Is there a destination in mind?"

"Dylar, sir."

"All ships prepare to warp on my mark… mark." reality distorts as we warp, and snaps back into proportions as it ends. "We can't keep running, it makes us look weak and he'll parade it around, bringing more colonies under his flag." I spit the venom out. "Once the ships are repaired we're going back to Mar Sara, see what's left after the Protoss bombed it."

"Sir, won't Mengsk expect us to go back there?" Matt makes an excellent point.

"Ah shit you're right." Where would the last place they'd expect us to go? "Tarsonis."

"Are you sure? The Zerg still own the world."

"We'll have to make it work, Mengsk won't think to look there until it's too late and we're able to launch our counter offensive."

"If the orbital defence platforms are still operational we can use them to deter any early assaults." Matt theorizes.

"I appreciate the planning, but don't plan too far ahead, we haven't fixed our ships yet."

"I'll contact the shipyards, see if they can help us."

"If they refuse we'll take the shipyards by force." We don't have the luxury of picking where to repair, it's here or nowhere.

"This is captain Anderson of the Singularity, our yamato batteries are operational, but a single salvo will leave us dead in the water while recharging." One of my Battlecruiser captains informs us.

"Did he just say 'Batteries'?" Matt asks.

"Captain Anderson, I was under the impression that Minotaur Class Battlecruisers only had one Yamato Cannon." I ask on the fleet coms.

"Confederate prototype Yamato guns derived from the tech mercenaries use at dead man's port, smaller and aren't as destructive, but they're still Yamato's." Anderson clarifies. "Dubbed the 'Auxiliary' Class."

"That's some serious firepower." Matt says in awe.

"Not great versus strike craft I imagine, in future engagements I want you in the back laying on the pain."

"Understood."

"Dylan shipyards this is the Hyperion, requesting permission to dock for repairs." Matthew finally contacts the shipyard.

"Are you those Dominion fellows?" Comes the return transmission.

"No." Matt responds.

"Then welcome to The Dylan Shipyards! We don't service terrorists."

"We need to protect this Shipyard with our lives." I tell matt. "This is where the majority of Confederate Battlecruisers were built enbulk, and they just threw their lot in with us."

"We just warped out of a confrontation with the Dominion, they'll follow us here to finish the job." Matt warns the shipyard.

"This is the Marauder, we're the least damaged of the fleet and will stand guard while the rest of you get repairs." The Battlecruiser with the most guns offers.

"Prioritize the Singularity for repairs, if we get into a fight we'll need their firepower sooner rather than later." I tell the foreman.

"Heading in now." The Singularity moves into a vacant dock, and is secured into place.

"This is the Jackson, we can provide strikecraft support while being repaired." The Battlecruiser in question moves into the dock next to the singularity. "So take your time." As the Jackson is being secured several ports open and Wraiths fly out, passing the Hyperion.

"Anything special about the Hyperion?" I ask Matt.

"We have the largest personal capacity of the fleet."

"We're a troop transport… Take us in for repairs." 'Fleet' is pretty generous Matt.

"Simmon's how're we looking?" Matt asks on the ship's intercom.

"The Ion Cannon did a number on our weapons and fusion core, but the Yamato and engines are fine."

"And life support?"

"Fixed that myself, nobody's suffocating on my watch."

"We're docking at the Dylan Shipyard-" I can hear the Hyperion being secured into place for repairs. "Expect help to arrive to make those repairs go quicker."

"Can we hire a few of their engineers? I'm almost certain that most of these guys cheated their way through engineering school." Simmons complains.

"It can't be that bad, only the best Mengsk had on the Flagship." I doubt that they're as bad as that.

"Non essential systems offline for maintenance." the Adjutant informs us.

"Warp signatures, it has to be the Dominion." The Marauder informs us.

"Commander Raynor, I want you and your Rangers on the ground aiding the defence, if we lose the shipyard we lose the war." I order into the intercom.

"Shipyard defences coming online, but it's not enough to take on the Dominion battlecruisers." Mat informs me.

"That's because Dylar's usually had a fleet protecting them, looks like they've bailed with the crumbling of the Confederacy so we're all they have."

"Then we'll give them hell." Matt says. "Foreman if you can get our guns online we'll help in the defence."

"We aren't soldiers, we'll need cover while we initiate repairs." The foreman says.

"Get Shock'n Awe out there-"

"Shock'n Awe we need you providing artillery support."

"Rolling out!"

"-and send out the new Skybreaker Goliaths, Dominion wraiths are going to be strafing the shipyard and we can't allow that."

"Point defence coming online, providing anti air support." The Jackson informs us.

"Batteries two and four online." Simmons says. "Batteries eight through twelve will need replacing however."

"Get those guns to work immediately."

"Incoming Transmission."

"Attention rebel forces, surrender now or you will be blown to high hell." Duke.

"Not a chance Duke, the Confederacy isn't dead yet, you betrayed your people for a promotion and betrayed your peers out of spite, if you surrender we'll let you go." I retort.

"Maxton you're still alive? I thought the Zerg would have finished you off when you went after Kerrigan." The general sounds astounded.

My blood boils, the only reason why Serah died was because we didn't have support from the fleet, because they wanted her dead. "You killed her, Duke, don't say I didn't give you a chance."

"Transmission concluded."

"Matt, the moment we're free of the dock I want a Yamato going straight through that son of a bitch's Battlecruiser."

"Yes sir."

"Raynor here, the dominion are dropping troops off just outside the Hyperion's dock." The commander reports.

"They want me more than anything, which is why I'm not going out there."

"Battery one online and firing."

"How many dominion battlecruisers are there?" I ask matt.

"Marauder?"

"About… nine, Hyperion."

"Outnumbered more than two to one." I scoff. "Is the Norad Three here?"

"There's a battlecruiser in the back watching the fighting." The Marauder reports.

"Of course, he's letting his subordinates do the fighting for him."

"He probably thinks he doesn't need to get involved to take us out, a power play."

"His arrogance will be his downfall." The Hyperion shakes as it takes a direct hit.

"Battery seven on- nope, just went offline again."

"Singularity holding fire until repairs are complete." The experimental Battlecruiser informs us.

"Take your time, make your alpha strike hurt as much as possible."

"Dominion Siege tanks are being planted on the docks in Siege Mode."

"I'm working on it!" Raynor disputes.

"You have my faith, commander." The Hyperion shakes more as artillery shells strike the hull. "Matt are there any functioning batteries able to hit the tanks?"

"One, scratch that, none."

"I just got seven back online!" Simmons cries out in annoyance. "Two will need replacing, at this rate we'll only have the Yamato cannon."

"Warp signatures detected, sir... Confederate battlecruisers."

"Incoming Transmission."

"This is the Jormandr, we got your call to arms and are here to join your unit."

"The help's appreciated! Who else do you have with you?" Reinforcements have arrived.

"Minotaur ready for duty!"

"Athena here, running low on fumes but still kicking."

"My Yamato Cannon's disabled from a previous engagement, but The Yggdrasil is operational."

Four mostly undamaged Battlecruisers, together with the Shipyard we now outgun the Dominion.

"Sir, the Battlecruiser in the back is moving forward."

"Yeah, because the fight's in our favor now." A grin spreads across my face.

There is a loud crash and the Hyperion lurches dangerously to the side before snapping back straight, throwing everyone in the bridge around like ragdolls. "Engines online and correcting." Matt says using the holo desk to pull himself to his feet, it has a display of the Hyperion and there's a massive red dot in one of the Battlecruiser's wings.

"What happened!?"

"Seige tanks just took out one of the cranes holding the Hyperion in place, we're dealing with them!" Raynor shouts.

"I see em, fiiiire!" Graves shouts enthusiastically.

I think he's enjoying the artillery life a bit too much. "Hyperion, you have a crane lodged in your portside wing, going to need some heavy equipment to get it out."

"Adjutant are we losing air pressure?"

"Breach has been isolated, o2 levels are stable."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"We took out three of them, but this is as far as the Marauder can go."

"You've earned a break Marauder, get those repairs." I semi joke.

"You're the boss!"

"Matt, I'm going to entrust the rest to you, I need to keep the refugees calm." I wait for the Battlecruiser captain to give me a nod before rushing out, the Hyperion shaking as it takes more abuse.

I pass several rushing soldiers. "Status on the Refugees?" I ask one.

"Panic is spreading, we might have a revolt on our hands." The marine stops long enough to tell me.

We need to get them a home asap, or we won't have anyone left to protect. "I don't want anyone pointing guns at the refugees, understood?"

"Magistrate doesn't want anyone pointing guns at the refugees, I'll personally court marshal anyone who disobeys." The leading officer loads a shell into his shotgun's chamber for empathise.

The Hyperion shakes once more, and I stumble into the Cargo Bay overseer's office, in the bay are the refugees, packed almost elbow to elbow, and the screaming is at an all new high. Soldiers are attempting to calm the civilians but it doesn't seem to do anything.

I take a deep breath, being in way over my head… Of course I had to be the one who's rallying the remaining Confederate forces. I grab a megaphone and step out onto the catwalk running the rim of the upper portion of the cargo bay.

"Everyone, up here!" I shout into the megaphone, barely able to hear myself over the explosions and the panicking people. Is it possible for me to calm this? There's so many that're scared…. I have to try. "This is your Magistrate, Maxton Dirge…" What do I say? "Please remain calm, we're getting repairs at the Dylar Shipyards but the Sons of Korhal, who've renamed themselves to the Dominion, have assaulted the shipyard, we're working together with the Shipyard to fend them off, one of the cranes keeping us in place has been taken out, which is why we're shaking so much, we haven't taken any major hull damage-" Don't mention the crane in the wing. "-So please remain calm, these are Duke's men and we've beaten him time and time again, this will be no different."

I don't think anything's changed, maybe they didn't hear me. "If you wish to volunteer to join the fight against the man who stole your home from you, please find the closest soldier and he'll point you in the right direction."

Several refugees are lead out of the cargo bay once I finish talking, giving the rest room to breathe. I continue talking, my only goal to ease the nerves of the people who entrusted their lives to me… But why so many?

Because the Confederacy stopped caring and Mengsk is using them to put himself in power, that's why.

"The Zerg took your homes once, and Mengsk would tell you that he can keep them away, but he can't… he's the reason why they came to Tarsonis, and then he blockaded the planet so no one would escape and if losing a world means he gets to keep the rest in line, he would do it in a heartbeat, and without regrets… He will only reward absolute loyalty, if you question him once he'll have you killed." Just like Serah.

I stop talking for a moment. Serah was his most loyal operative, and during the time I knew her she questioned his decisions once, the use of Psi Emitters, and he killed her for it.

That means that I was on the chopping block the moment I demanded that he not use them, but was too valuable to be axed off to early. "We cannot give up hope-" The Hyperion shakes once more, and I can see the sea of bodies react, I pull myself back upright to continue my impromptu speech "Mengsk will do everything he can to snuff out your hope, my hope, convince us that we need him to stay alive as the universe changes around us, but we don't, we have the full might of the Armada protecting us!" Anything to calm them down, if we kill ourselves it'll only prove him right.

"Yamato signatures detected." The Adjutant warns me.

"Brace for impact!" I yell just before a fatal shiver courses through the flagship.

"Starboard wing destroyed, the Hyperion is now free from the dock."

"Grab a space suit and load onto a dropship, the Hyperion's going to make a stand despite the damage." I order, then charge back to the bridge, taking a moment to breathe out of my inhaler.

"-It'll have to do, Hyperion." I step onto the bridge and I can hear the Singularity speaking with Matt.

"Magistrate on the Bridge!" Someone shouts, and everyone turns to me.

"Status report." I bark.

"Hyperion's taking heavy damage, if we make it out of this we'll be stuck here."

"And our Warp Drive?"

"Inoperable." An engineer calls out, putting out a fire.

They don't want us to flee. "We're offloading the refugees onto the shipyard, once they're off I want the Hyperion up, we're making a stand."

"The Singularity's Yamato batteries are online and it's moving to engage the Dominion forces."

"Hope it's enough to make them retreat."

"If you thought that barrage was powerful, just wait until you see this." The Singularity taunts on an open frequency.

The Hyperion turns just in time for us to see the light show. A barrage of small yamato blasts sweeps across three damaged Battlecruisers, and rips them apart.

One of the ship's Yamato core ruptures, making it detonate and taking out a fourth Dominion ship, everyone on the Hyperion's bridge cheers as the Singularity drifts in space, lights flickering on low power.

"The Singularity's a sitting duck while it recharges from the overload, can someone bodyblock for it?" Matt asks on the fleet's secured frequency.

"Moving." The Jormandr confirms, it's massive frame eclipsing the experimental flagship from the Dominion forces as it becomes the target of most of the battlecruisers.

"You shouldn't have taken your eyes off of me." The Athena scoffs.

"Yamato signature detected." One of the dominion ships vanishes from the sensors.

"Right in two!"

"Transmission intercepted."

"All dominion forces fall back, we can't afford to lose anymore ships, let them keep the shipyard." Duke sounds absolutely livid, and it brings a smile to my face.

"You've yet to beat me, general… how does it feel?"

"Oh we aren't done yet boy." The general vows. "We'll be back, and next time we'll-"

"Yamato him."

"Yamato cannon charging."

"Get us out of here!" Duke snaps, and four of the dominion ships warps out.

"My warp drive's disabled!" The one intact dominion battlecruiser that was left behind screams.

"Yamato cannon's charged, sir." Matt informs me.

"Dominion vessel, stand down or be destroyed, I'm only saying this once." I say on an open frequency.

Silence.

"Fire-"

"We surrender… we surrender."

"Board the ship and dock it, we've just added another ship to our fleet." I tell the fleet, the Yggdrasil moves up, it's heavily damaged but still able to fly.

"This is Jimmy, Mengsk's boys on the ground just surrendered, what do we do with them?"

"Confiscate any vehicles they have and leave them in the brig."

"Right on it."

I take a breath, our first real win. "Call the foreman."

"He's on screen."

"Good riddance to the 'Dominion'." The foreman spits. "Repairs are on the house!"

"They won't be gone for long, as you said this is where the majority of Confederate Battlecruisers are made." Matt reminds me.

"I know, they'll be back with more firepower, or to try and take the shipyard from us using Ghosts, but we've won this battle, we can lord it over the Dominion and have more worlds and fleets flock to us."

"Sounds like you're engaging in a three way war, sir."

"Three way?"

"With Fleets, with Ghosts, and with propaganda."

He has a point. "Before we make any lasting plans, the refugees are going to get stir crazy being elbow to elbow with each other."

"Your people can stay on Dylar Four while you sort yourselves out." The foreman offers. "Everyone who works on the shipyard lives up here."

"Thank you, foreman." I let out a sigh of relief.

"Which Battlecruiser is the least damaged?" I ask the fleet.

"Jackson here, repairs are almost complete, but you'll need much more time, Hyperion."

"Jackson, once you're repaired we're going back to Tarsonis as covertly as possible, we're going to find the old Ghost Academy facility and see if it's still functioning."

"What about the rest of us?" The Singularity asks.

"Stay here and defend the shipyards, get whatever repairs you need and stand guard, I don't think the Harbormaster would mind if we stuck around providing protection from Pirates while we wait."

"Harbormaster's dead, he was on Tarsonis renewing a contract with the Original Confederates." The Foreman informs us.

"In that case, once I get back from Tarsonis I have quite a bit to talk about with you and the rest of the shipyards."

"We'll be here."

"Transmission finished."

I let out a yawn. "Tomorrow, I'm exhausted after today, you get some rest soon as well Matt."

"Yes sir."

Special Thanks to:

l3loodKnight

For Beta Reading this chapter and knowing more than I ever will about the Starcraft universe :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 16: Ghost of a Chance Meeting**

The dropship touches down, the faceless soldiers eager to get into the fight, the ramp lowers and before us is New Gettysburg, waiting, and falling apart around us crawling with Zerg. "Alright everyone, Search and rescue." The soldiers rush out around me, vanishing into the rubble. "We're finding everyone we can, no matter… what." The worm breaches through the same part of New Gettysburg, becomes translucent, and then vanishes, only to breach again.

I should have done more, I don't know how, but I should have. She's dead because of my weakness. "You're not to blame for everything, Max." Serah said.

Before I knew it I turned around, looking back into the Dropship, seeing it empty.

"What more could I have done?" I beg the empty transport.

"You are to blame, Max." A distorted voice shouts, and I snap awake with a start.

"-as I've said, Magistrate Dirge is resting… I don't care if your Siege Tank is missing a tank tread Sergeant Graves, you can bother Simmons, it's his job to maintain the Magistrate's hardware." There's a woman in my room, pacing around a table with my earpiece. "One moment."

"I don't remember recruiting a secretary." I say sitting up, wiping away the sleep from my eyes. What time is it? "And more importantly, how'd you get my earpiece?"

"I'm sorry, allow me to introduce myself." She bows deeply. "My name is Kare Vaessen, my apologies for not making your acquaintance earlier, I was asked to manage your calls and appointments while you slept as the Captain felt-."

"Great, another babysitter who'll soil themselves whenever I'm not in a safe house." I say in a deadpan, at least this one is better to look at…. I'm too tired for this. "Are you kidding me?! It's been three hours!"

"I'm sorry, sir… Hold on." She puts a hand on my earpiece. "Kare here."

"Well who is it?"

She doesn't answer me. "I'll let him know." She takes her hand off of her ear. "Captain Horner would like to inform you that Dominion scouts have been spotted warping in and out of the system, if you want to leave with the Jackson before another engagement it will have to be soon."

"Great, here I was hoping to get a full night's rest." I get up and put my suit on. "At least have the decency to look away."

"Sorry sir." She turns around quickly, keeping her cool.

She's probably stayed on board most of the time, wonder if there's a lucky bastard on board who's seen more.

"Get me some coffee, if I'm going to leave within the next hour I need to be alert, not… sloppy." I stretch.

"Yes sir." swiftly she leaves the room and I rub my head.

"Should have asked for my earpiece back." I grumble.

Three hours rest, why couldn't she be taking care of business somewhere else on the Hyperion, and not in my room?

She's back five minutes on the dot with a cup of coffee on a coaster. "I'm sorry, the damage from the fight hours ago has left some paths inaccessible for repairs."

"What isn't damaged?"

"Not your pride."

"Ouch, fiery one I see." I take the coffee and sip it. "I give this a good... three, out of ten." It tastes like water.

"Ready to escort you out when you're done."

"No thanks, give me my earpiece and I can find my own way." I hold a hand out expectantly.

"When you're boarding the Jackson, until then I'll take care of business." She puts a hand over her ear protectively.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm not about to wrestle with a woman."

"It won't be long, ten minutes at most."

"Ten? Is there a shortcut to the hanger bay?"

"It's the route, maintenance corridors have been opened so the crew can still get around." She explains.

"Alright." I take the untouched bottle of rum on the night stand and stuff it into the drawer, and pull out the pistol stored inside and hide it in my jacket. "Lead the way."

She nods. "Gladly." And opens the door.

There are bodies moving down the corridor, making it congested. "Keep up now." Kare calls over the noise.

"I'm not a child." I grumble, but follow nonetheless.

I thought the Hyperion looked bad before, but now that repairs are underway it looks even worse. Maybe Simmons was right. "Sorry sir, this corridor's closed for repairs, expecting a heavy load to come through." A security guard says, ushering us down an alternative path.

"You weren't kidding about the Hyperion being shut down for repairs." I note as another security guard ushers us into a maintenance shaft, and if I thought the main corridors were cramped, the tiny maintenance corridor's filled with engineers.

"It'd be worse if the Refugees were still on board." Kare mentions. "Security personal has caught several trying to steal rations."

"Can't say I blame them, we'll need to make a stop at a farming colony and stock up on supplies, take note."

"Yes sir." She opens a door and ushers me through, I was busy thinking about where to get food for three colony's worth of people that I didn't notice that the room was pitch black until the door closes behind me.

A light flickers on, revealing a table and two chairs, someone is already here waiting for me. "Maxton Dirge, Magistrate of Mar Sara and quite possibly the last authority the Confederacy has left." Her face is obscured by the darkness, but her legs are on the table. "I'm glad we're finally able to meet, take a seat if you'd like."

Without a word I comply. "You must have pulled quite the stunt to get me here, miss…"

"Saura, Bell Saura." She pulls her legs off the table and leans forward, chin resting on the backs of her hands. "And I've heard that you've been looking for us."

I can hear Kare strip behind me, I look back to see the staple Ghost suit under the uniform, not the same as Serah's, but it's definitely a Ghost's. "Thank you for the compliments."

And I groan internally, and since she's reading my mind, I might as well say it and not think it. "Why are all Ghosts attractive, is it a requirement or something?"

"Ghosts are required to have a psionic score above five, along with physical training to perform a multitude of assignments."

"And I'm sure one of those 'assignments' is to look sexy, gotcha."

Saura gives me the stink eye, and I ignore it.

""I've heard that you've been looking for the Ghost Academy, and we're willing to join you on one condition."

"Shoot."

"I want to be the head of your Ghost Program."

"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I've spent a few years looking into how the Umogan's and the Kel-Morian's handle their Ghosts, and I've come to the realization that we've been putting too much resources into turning our personal into mindless, emotionless drones."

"You say it as if they wipe the minds of the ghost-you're kidding me… they actually wipe the minds of their agents!"

"I've brought this up with the board but they tossed the idea aside as it was 'too risky to allow autonomy amongst the agents', though given how Arcturus Mengsk managed to get his hands on one of the highest level ghosts makes their worry understandable ." She spits. "But now, things have changed."

I sit back and let out a sigh. "I hope you understand that I'm placing a whole lot of trust in you, and if you betray that trust I'll be forced to execute you."

"Can you win without us, Magistrate?" Bell asks with surety.

"Most likely if Ghosts aren't involved, but I know that they will, so I'm not as certain, so I'm in a grey area in that regard." Do not let them dictate the terms, or else I'll be little more than a puppet. "It's not just me that you'll have to convince that your on the side of, there are about forty thousand other people you'll have to convince."

"The Colonists, am I correct?" Bell asks, and I nod. "That's fine, the Ghost Program wasn't popular with the masses to begin with."

"How many ghosts are on board?"

"Six, they're in hiding but Agent Kare found them easily enough and brought them over to our side."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that, Another reason why the program needs changing, if I can take command of ghosts out of contact of the academy then anyone with the right tools can." Saura says, making sure I understand the severity of this flaw. "I'll need resources to undo the alterations, and ensure the loyalties of the confederate Ghosts."

"You'll have them, and if Agent Kare will give me my earpiece back- thank you." I put the communicator in my ear, and turn it on. "Matt?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Did you assign me an aid while I slept?" I ask  
"No sir, I got a message with your signature stating that you were assigning Ms. Kare to take your calls while you rested. I take it that wasn't the case?" Matt replys.

"It's not every day someone wakes up with a Ghost in their room." I admit.

"Are you okay?" Matt asks with increased worry.

"These are ghosts, if they wanted me dead then I'd be dead, no, they wanted to make a deal."

"Deal, sir?" He asks suspiciously.

"I'll explain later before I leave for Tarsonis." I say, turning my attention back to Saura, and leaving my earpiece on transmit.

Saura gets up from her seat and walks over to Kare "I'd like to offer Agent Kare to be your bodyguard for the foreseeable future, she's already infiltrated your ranks and presented herself as your aid, only the leadership of your group needs to be aware thats shes a ghost… Although I can promise that you that you won't wake up every day to a rather attractive ghost in a tight dress." She laughs at my expense, while the Ghost maintains a straight face.

"In all honesty, I was hoping you'd come to me, but in a less… Kidnappy way." I admit.

"This was the only way we could while maintaining privacy, for both parties."

"You say that right next to one of your agents, and I'm here sitting alone with just a pistol."

"Kare needed to be here so you'd believe me when I said that I was part of the Ghost Program." Saura explains. "We also took the liberty of setting up a meeting between the Armada leadership and the Shipyard Foremen, you are not an easy person to 'work for'."

"I was asleep for three hours, and yet you already had people thinking that I had a secretary?" A sigh escapes my lips. "I guess a debriefing is necessary, I just wish we had time to recuperate."

"Magistrate, you know better than anyone else that time is of the essence." Both Saura and Matt say in unison.

"Are the two of you twins or something?" I tap my earpiece in confusion, I'm the only one in the room that can hear the captain.

Saura tells me. "I've already got teams ready to aid you on the mission."

I turn off my earpiece, I want this to stay between the three of us, who knows who else's listening in. "Have you killed anyone from the Ghost Academy before you met with me?"

"Yes, I had Kare kill an agent tailing me before we joined the refugees board the Hyperion, the head director probably assigned him to watch me for my 'controversial' ideals."

"So you're serious about these changes." I note, and she nods. "Let's get going then, I'll have to make an announcement that we'll have Ghosts joining us on the trip." I stretch my back. "And they'll want to know who the director is."

I stand and face the two.. "Agent Kare, would you mind escorting us to the bridge?" Saura asks Kare.

"Yes ma'am." Kare opens the door out. "Right this way."

Waiting for us in the Hyperion's bridge is Raynor's familiar black marine suit, Simmons, and captain Horner of course. On the comms console are the other battlecruiser captains taking up half of the screen, and the foremen who agreed to meet on the other. Out of the twelve shipyards, only four showed up. Saura clicks her tongue in disappointment.

"You need a different look commander, nothing screams 'I'm a Pirate' more than a black suit with a skull on the visor." I tell Raynor.

"If you say so." The commander shrugs.

Saura hangs back while I approach the meeting, Kare at my side. "I was hoping to be on my way to Tarsonis when I woke up, but it appears that someone decided to delay that with a meeting." I glance over my shoulder at the administrator, who doesn't react. "But let's get this underway nonetheless." I was hoping to do this after I came back, but if people are so determined to plan miles ahead, fine.

"The Dominion are coming back, and we saw the damage they've inflicted on Shipyard three-" The foreman of the shipyard the Hyperion is currently getting repairs at nods. "We can't sit around twiddling our thumbs waiting for them to come back."

"Unless the shipyards can enter warp space, we can't go anywhere until repairs are complete." Athena states.

"Most of the shipyards were built here, the rest were warped in." One of the Foremen says informatively.

"Are the warp drives active?" I cut in.

"No, they're based on older designs so we'll need to spend time making sure they can work."

"Looks like you know what you're going to be doing while we're at Tarsonis."

"We're going to flee?" One of the Foreman asks hesitantly.

"The ships here are all we have, who knows how many the Dominion has, we have to get somewhere they won't care about for the time being."

"Sir, are you sure that's wise? Dylar is a resource rich system, if we surrender it to Mengsk..."

"I know." I let out a sigh. "I know, and giving up Dylar is massive, but we don't know how big the Dominions fleet is, and I'm pretty sure it's more than five fully functional Battlecruisers. It's better to fall back and lick our wounds than have a last stand." If fighting the Zerg has taught me anything, it's that victory isn't about winning the battle.

"What about the shipyards that don't have warp drives?" Matt asks.

"..."

"Sir?"

"... we'll think of something." I already know what has to be done, and it ties my stomach into knots thinking about it. "For now get whatever warp drives ready, and if you don't want to stay here when the Dominion comes to claim the system, you'd better be on a shipyard with a warp drive when we're ready to leave."

"Try convincing the undecided shipyards to join us, it'd be a shame to leave everyone behind." Matt pipes up.

"Should be easy, we make a living off of making warp drives." Foreman of Shipyard two jokes.

"Knock it off Terry." Foreman of Shipyard three scowls. "It's not going to be easy, but we'll do our best."

"My 'secretary' here is a Ghost, and my new Bodyguard, her handler is Saura-" I point back at the Administrator. "Who has graciously volunteered to join us in raiding the ghost Academy." I manage to hide a grin. "We've already talked about who's going, so I don't need to repeat myself… I want everyone who's staying on alert just in case."

"Yes sir." Several Armada captains say in unison.

"Dismissed." I say, and the screen goes black, leaving just myself, Simmons, Raynor, and Matt on the bridge.

"Simmons how's my Goliath looking?"

"It's working."

"Good, load it on a dropship bound for the Jackson, and make sure we have working vehicles for the mission."

"Will do." The engineer briskly walks out of the room.

I turn to an annoyed Saura and approach her. "You may be in command of the Ghosts, but I am still in charge of the Admada, you would do well to remember that."

Bell gives me the stink eye. "Yes, sir." She sighs.

"I'll leave a detachment of Rangers on the Jackson." Raynor says.

"Much appreciated, are you staying behind?"

"Someone's gotta manage the ground defences."

"I wish you luck." I say, and the commander laughs.

"I'm not the one going to be fighting Zerg."

"True enough." I say as two rangers enter the bridge and salute us.

"Whenever you're ready, Magistrate." One tells me.

"Lead the way."

"These the engineers you promised me?" I ask as the dropship ramp closes.

"Indeed, a good number of the installation's engineers managed to get offworld, I've yet to sift through the data they brought with and was hoping to get that done while you were gone."

"Plans change-" The dropship takes off. "You know the Academy better than anyone else in the Armada, anything we don't take is destroyed, If nothing else you can stay on the ship while on Tarsonis."

Saura doesn't say anything, but nods in understanding.

Not a minute later we're touching down again. "Welcome aboard the Jackson, Magistrate." The captain greets as I step off the Dropship ramp. "I am Jessica Farmer, and I'll be your captain for this journey." She's a twig of a woman, but there's a commanding air about her.

"Thank you Farmer, are we ready to depart?" I ask, following the captain away from the hanger.

She nods. "Yes sir, The Jackson, the Minotaur, and the Jormandr are ready for the mission."

"Oh? That leaves two combat ready Battlecruiser's at the dock in case The Dominion attack while we're away." I raise an eyebrow.

"All the Battlecruisers are repaired enough for a fight if needed, the Jackson's a Carrier-class, not a Minotaur-class, we'd be massively outgunned if the Dominion are already there." She explains. "The Minotaur and the Jormandr will more than make up for the Jackson's lack of assault batteries."

I nod slowly, kicking myself mentally for not preparing for that possibility. "Alright, good thinking."

She beams with pride. "Pilot, take us away from the docks, it's time to be underway." She barks.

"Jackson moving."

"Help me sync my earpiece to the Jackson, having a direct line will help loads for the ground mission." I say taking out the device in question, and clicking a button on the side that faces the ear.

"Ping detected." The Jackson's Adjutant pipes up.

"Handshake." Jessica orders.

"Handshake successful." The Adjutant says in my ear.

"Perfect." I nod in approval.

"Ready to warp when you are, Jackson." The Jormandr says.

"Minotaur here, coordinance are locked and ready to go!"

Space distorts as the warp commences, and then stabilizes within a few minutes. "Jump is good! we should be in Tarsonis Orbit in a couple hours." The Navigator announces to everyone.

"What forces does each ship have for us to work with?" I ask the Captain, we can't afford any screw ups in the logistics.

"Each ship has a full regimen at minimum, enough to take a base or two but given the chaos Tarsonis was in when we left, plus the dangers of leaving the Shipyards undefended we can't afford a prolonged engagement."

I nod, rubbing my chin in thought. "Once we're at Tarsonis, Minotaur and Jormandr will stay in orbit and keep our exit window open and provide emergency orbital support, The Jackson will be providing active air support.

A yawn escapes me once more. "I'm going to take a nap, wake me up once the warp ends, or if something pops up." Not sure how, as we're in warp.

"Shouldn't you be preparing for Tarsonis?" Saura asks bitterly.

"Actually, I need to survey the Jackson's Hanger, see what we have available for the battle." I should have taken stock earlier and transferred forces over as needed.

"Raynor assigned a detachment of Rangers to leave with you." A Ranger tells me.

"I'm glad someone's picking up the slack I'm leaving." I let out another sigh and rub my eyes.

"Transmission intercepted."

"Fellow Terrans, I come to you in the wake of recent events to issue a call to reason." Mengsk, he sounds like he's already won. "Let no human deny the perils of our time." I rub the sleep from my eyes and stretch, listening to the intercepted transmission, chances are it wasn't even encrypted.

"While we battle one another, divided by the petty strife of our common history, the tide of a greater conflict is turning against us, threatening to destroy all that we have accomplished." I have to stifle a laugh, if anyone doesn't fall into line, they're killed.

"It is time for us as nations, and as individuals to set aside our long-standing feuds and unite. The tides of an unwinnable war are upon us, and we must seek refuge upon higher ground, lest we be swept away by the flood. The Confederacy is no more!" About time he tried convincing people that we're gone.

"Whatever semblance of unity and protection it once provided is a phantom, a memory. With our enemies left unchecked, who will you turn to for protection?" I'm still here, you bastard. "The devastation wrought by the alien invaders is self-evident. We have seen our homes and communities destroyed by the calculated blows of the Protoss. We have seen first hand our friends and loved ones consumed by the nightmarish Zerg."

"You brought the Zerg on Antiga Prime and Tarsonis!" I shout with a fury.

"-unimaginable though they may be, these are the signs of our time. The time has come, my fellow Terrans, to rally to a new banner. In unity lies strength; already many of the dissident factions have joined us." I was worried about that, which is why we're abandoning Dylar as soon as we're done at Tarsonis.

"Out of the many we shall forge an indivisible whole capitulating only to a single throne, and from that throne I shall watch over you. From this day forward let no human make war upon any other human, let no Terran agency conspire against this new beginning, and let no man consort with alien powers, and to all the enemies of humanity: seek not to bar our way, for we shall win through, no matter the cost!"

"You and me Both, Mengsk." The Confederacy is still a contender in this conflict, you'd better not ignore us.

"The Dominion's transmission is on repeat, cutting transmission." The Adjutant automatically says.

"Farmer can you hear me?" I call out.

"Loud and clear." Her voice rings out on the intercom.

"How much longer until we're at Tarsonis?"

"Five minutes."

"Where's Saura?"

"On the bridge, we've been discussing our battleplan while you slept." Saura informs me on the same intercom as the captain. "I hope you don't mind."

"Sorry I wasn't present for it." I stretch my back. "It had been a long time since I last slept, well." I feel much better after that. Kare's sitting by the door reading a book, her rifle by her side, and secretary disguise on the table next to her.

Where's my Portable- here it is. I pop open the briefcase I keep at my side always, and the holo of the Adjutant appears as I click some buttons. "I'm going to try and sync my Adjutant to the Jackson's, going to need permission."

"Permission required."

"Yeah I know."

"You got it." Jessica says after a delay.

"Connecting to the Jackson's mainframe, displaying visuals of the surface of Tarsonis."

It's a ruin, I already knew that, but there's a lot more Creep covering the buildings, it's disgusting. "Where's the… Hive Cluster?"

"Multiple Zerg Hives located." The Ship's Adjutant says, showing the mass of hives. "Detecting Confederate distress signal."

Automatically the recording plays. "If anyone can hear this, we need immediate evac, there's Zerg everywhere and we can't hold out for long, they've been sending increasing numbers at us and we're low on everything, we don't care who you are, just get us out of here!"

Wait a moment. "Gregory?" I breathe out.

"You know this man?" Saura asks.

"Yeah, last time I saw him was during the celebration of my being elected candidate for the Magistrate position." I say. "I haven't seen any of them since I woke up in the Tarsonis System." How is he still alive? I saw the body bags.

"You left the Sara System while campaigning to be Magistrate?" Saura asks.

"Yeah, when I woke up there was a Couple Ghosts in my face, and I was terrified… They could have executed me on the spot without needing to be told, but here I am." I still don't know why I was spared.

"Do you know the name of the Ghosts?"

"Tosh, but I don't know the other one's."

"Ghosts normally aren't supposed to introduce themselves, we can find his mission files and see for ourselves." Saura tells me.

"We can do that?"

"Yes." Saura responds to the stupid question for what it is.

"Okay, but we're saving those people… wait what's that?" There's a Zerg structure I've never seen before near the edge of the hive closest to the Terran outpost, I don't need to see to know that they're still battling it out. "Is that a… Zerg Cerebrate?"

"What's that next to it?" Jessica points out.

An egg, but it's not like the ones the Larva turn into. "Unsure, maintain visual for now, and contact the Confederate survivors."

"Transmission established."

"Finally! Someone answers the call." Greg lets out a sigh of relief. "We've been trying to hail ships coming through the Tarsonis System all day!"

"Hey Greg, it's been a few years." I can't help but grin.

"Max is that you?" Greg asks, not believing his ears.

"Yes, I became Magistrate by the way, and now I'm rallying what's left of the Confederacy, are you up for it?"

"Of course! Man I missed a lot stuck here on the capitol."

"You've been on Tarsonis for the past few years?"

"As touching as it is to listen in on two friends reimencing, we're on a timer."

"Right, Greg we're going to land some troops, our main objective is to salvage what remains of the Ghost Academy, and if you want to get off Tarsonis alive you'll need to randevu with them, Administrator do we have the coordinance of the-"

"Three steps ahead of you."

Of course you are. "We don't have long to embark, we need to get as many people as we can down there… Jackson have your strike craft strafe the Cerebrate, get it to recall its forces to protect itself, where's my Goliath?"

"Wraiths away." Jessica informs us. "All dropships prepare for departure, load up on supplies, armor and bodies because we're heading planetside."

"Do we still have control over the orbital defences?" I ponder.

"Pinging… no response."

"The Zerg took them out already." There goes plan B. "We'll have to get this done fast if we want to avoid being overrun."

"Simmons had your Goliath loaded before you arrived." The Dropship pilot tells me.

I slip down into the vehicle bay to claim my new piece of hardware. "I missed sitting in this thing." I say, bringing the mech online, and stuffing the portable unit into the mini fridge. My goliath's the only one in the dropship's vehicle bay, there are Rangers in the upper part.

"We're maintaining contact with commander Greg, and he says that several ships have touched down ignoring his men, Pirates salvaging what's left or the Dominion." Saura informs me.

"Out of the frying pan, and into the fire." I mumble.

A war on two fronts, one against the Zerg and one against The Dominion… Both will have to be eliminated if humanity's to survive, but which one goes first?

Special Thanks:

l3lood_Knight: For helping to storyboard, lore check, and grammar correction, thanks buddy!


	17. Chapter 17

**Magistrate to Commander**

 **Chapter 17: Remnants of the Ravaged World**

The dropship shakes, my goliath's shock absorbers minimize the throttling I take, but I can feel the battle going on as we're on our way to the ground.

Kare's sitting next to me in the goliath's cockpit, cleaning her rifle as silent as a grave. We touch down. "Kare?"

She looks up at me.

"What're we going to be seeing in the Academy?"

"Depends on what the Zerg haven't eaten."

"What're we most likely to see?" I correct my question as the ramp lowers for the Goliath to leave, I can see Marines lining the ramp, keeping the perimeter clear.

"Ghosts, scavengers, pirates, dominion soldiers, confederate soldiers who believe you're still a traitor… and automated defences." She lists off the possibilities as I walk the mech out of the Dropship.

Explosions shake the ground as Siege Tanks open fire. "Talk to me Jackson, how close are we to the target?"

"City to your east, main entrance is an abandoned warehouse." Saura answers.

"Zerg are pulling back to protect the Cerebrate and the egg, I've never seen so many!" Jessica states.

"Fall back to the Marauder and Jormandr, the Zerg will overwhelm you faster than you think they will." I warn.

"You heard the Magistrate!" Saura barks.

The transmission cuts as Jessica starts talking back.

"Alright, any sight of Greg and his men?"

"Dominion Battlecruiser on approach." The Marauder reports.

"Jormandr engaging."

"Negative Magistrate, but I'm seeing a city overrun with Zerg." A Siege tank operator reports as another shell is fired.

"The Dominion are already here." Kare says climbing on top of the Goliath, and then cloaks.

Ghosts. "Weapons free." I tell the squad. "Jackson we're going to secure a forward position, once it's ours I want a base dropped for us."

"Understood, SCV's are building."

"Move out." I order, and the ground shakes as the convoy mobilizes, the last of the dropships take off for the Jackson, her wraiths strafing the skies and keeping Zerg fliers busy.

"Dominion Siege tanks moving into position on the high ground to our south." The mobile Adjutant informs me.

"Double time it, I don't want to be in range when they start firing." The Zerg start pouring out of the city to greet us. "Don't stop, we need to get inside the gates before we're annihilated!"

I can hear Kare's rifle, how she can aim up there surprises me. Wraiths flyby overhead, shooting into the city before a cloud of scourge chases them off. "Strike one Zerg hive Command, we will continue to provide aerial support."

"I read you!" I shout as the wraiths cloak to lose the scourge, the cloud moves erratically around an overlord, forcing the unfortunate wraith to decloak.

"Something can still see me!" The wraith states worriedly.

"Cluster rockets loaded, mind the shrapnel." I inform the wraith, firing into the cloud above. "Locate the Zerg… Sensors, and take them out." I order the Armada.

"Engaging emergency warp, watch out ground forces." The Jormandyr warns.

"What's going-" A Yamato blast cleaves through the clouds, through the Zerg and strikes the ground with enough force to make the ground shake.

"Are you alright down there?" Saura asks.

"We're alright, it hit the city though." I say as Kare climbs back into the cockpit.

"Dominion Ghosts have been dealt with."

"We're about to see more, don't let your guard down." I say, she already knows this, but it needs saying regardless.

"Doubting my abilities?"

No.

"Jackson here, we have visual on Greggory's forces, they're enroute from the south, but Zerg forces are closing in." The Jackson informs us.

"Give them some cover, we're in the city."

"Structures enroute."

A familiar roar emanates from farther inside of the city.

"I'll need some flying bricks for the Ultralisk we're about to encounter." I don't think there was a weapon in the Confederate's arsenal able to punch through it's armor, short of dropping a building on them of course.

"There isn't." Kare informs me.

That's what I thought. "Form a perimeter! We need a foothold and the Zerg will fight us tooth and nail."

"Jormandyr returning from emergency warp, we'll be unable to make another warp until the drive's repaired."

"More warp signatures detected inbound, if it's Dominion reinforcements we won't be able to hold for long." Jessica warns.

"Can you speed it up, Max?" Saura asks with strained politeness.

"If you want to ask the Zerg to let us past, I'm more than willing to let you." I retort.

"We can't wait for the base to arrive, I can take a small team and infiltrate the Ghost Academy." Kare offers.

"Do it, the Dominion really want what's here, and we can't let them have it." The side door opens, and my bodyguard hops out. "We can't spare much, the Zerg will be unrelenting."

"Understood."

"Siege tanks get on those walls and provide artillery support!"

"Moving!"

The first buildings land, no command center yet, and a transport unloads SCV's. "SCV's get some bunkers set up, we're sitting ducks out here in the open!"

"Roger!"

"Give the engineers cover marines!"

"Smoke em!" Firebats and marines rush ahead of the defensive line being set up.

"Sir, we could use some of these buildings as garrisons!" A marine pipes up.

"Excellent idea, once the bunkers are finished, get to work fortifying some of the buildings."

"Yes sir!"

"Magistrate, we've encountered an Ultralisk and are taking refuge in a parking garage, it knows we're here." Kare radios in.

"Drop a brick on it."

I look up and see several bricks coming down, I know they're bricks because I had Simmons paint bricks on the chosen buildings.

"What do we need to do?"

"Same as a nuke, paint the target and a brick will be by… I hope."

"You hope?"

"It's not like we had time to test these, Adjutant await 'brick' targeting."

"Searching… Target acquired, 'Brick' deployed." One of the bricks takes off and starts moving.

"It's on it's way, time to crush the bastard." I can't help but grin as I watch the brick take off, my Goliath's auto targeting taking over for me while I watch the spectacle.

The brick flips around and powers into the ground beneath it, I can hear the aftermath.

"-ax? Max can you hear me?" Greggory asks on the local coms. "We're at the randevou, where the hell are you!?"

"I can hear you! We're in the city fending off Zerg, I think we beat the Dominion here!" First good news since we landed.

The command center lands, and I take my Goliath off of auto target.

"Alright Adjutant, what are we looking at?" I ask, entering the holo room as it powers up, a pair of marines are standing guard right outside… just in case.

"No hive cluster detected in city limits, Nydus Worms are transporting Zerg forces directly into the city from the hive cluster."

"Take out the worms take out the supply lines, You listening Kare?"

"Yes Magistrate, secondary priority set."

I can see where they are on the holo desk, and the Academy's secret warehouse entrance is highlighted in yellow, the Nydus Worms are highlighted as orange. "Kare, it looks like there's a Nydus Worm inside the warehouse, I'd say brick it, but I don't want to collapse the Academy entrance."

"We don't have the firepower to deal with it, can we get some artillery support?"

"Open the warehouse up without collapsing the only entrance we know of and I'll gladly authorize an artillery strike."

"Understood."

"How's the gate looking?" I turn my attention to the main gates of the city.

"Not much resistance sir!" A siege tank replies.

"I want bunkers set up, just in case."

"Hey Max, the Zerg are falling back." Greggory says, sounding confused.

"What?" This goes against all I know of the Zerg. "Zerg don't give up, they run at you until you choke on the bodies."

"They're returning to the hive, any thoughts why?" Greggory shrugs on the holo.

"The egg!" I move the Holo screen over to the main hive cluster, the largest hive to date, and the egg on the perimeter. "They're pulling back to protect the egg, we can use this to our advantage." And already I can see how.

"Omega Squadron is yours, Max." Greggory says.

"Protect the base and meet me in the Command Center."

"Incoming Transmission." The Adjutant says, and Duke's face appears on the coms.

"You have guts boy, coming back here."

"What? You honestly thought I'd let the Dominion have free reign on the Ghost Academy?" I scoff.

"I should have shot down your transports while you were leaving Mar Sara, boy." The General says through clenched teeth. "You've been nothing but a pain in my ass."

"And I should have left you to die in Norad Two, but no, Mengsk wanted you in his army despite knowing how we thought about you." Bitterness fills me mouth.

"Men I want those rebels wiped out, there's nowhere for them to run."

"Four Dominion Battlecruisers have warped in!" Jessica shouts alarmed. "We're outnumbered two to- Protoss ships just warped in, attempting to hail our friends."

"Making allies with aliens now, rebel?" Duke spits. "You truly are desperate, the Dominion will wipe you-"

I manually end the transmission, I was getting tired of the senile's ranting. "Let's hope it's Tassadar."

"They're rejecting our hails, I don't think they're Tassadar's." I watch as the dots in orbit continue to move.

"Are they really on our side?" The Jormandyr asks.

"What's going on?" Greggory steps into the room.

"Protoss just warped in, we're attempting to make contact." I tell him.

"Protoss?" At first he's confused. "The Zerg, right… they're going to Glass the surface soon."

"Hopefully they'll wait until we're offworld before doing that."

"Well they aren't shooting at us, I think that's all we can hope for." Saura notes.

"Our warp core is still damaged, the extent of it is still being surveyed, it will take time." The Jormandyr informs us.

We're not leaving anyone behind. "Keep us updated, I want to know the moment we can leave."

"Will do."

"Explosion detected."

I bring the holo back to the city, the warehouse hiding the Nydus Worm is gone. "Roof's gone." Kare states.

"A promise is a promise, Siege Tanks be ready to receive target, Adjutant scan for 'paint'."

"Scanning."

"Painting the target."

"Scan complete, relaying Coordinance to mobile artillery."

"Collateral is my favorite kind of damage!"

I can feel the artillery firing, and it doesn't stop for a good minute, pausing only when Kare's team repositions. "Target eliminated, let's hope the entrance is still in one peice."

Without warning, the team vanishes from the holo. "Kare? Kare, can you hear me?"

Nothing. "Commander Greggory Reikson reporting for duty, sir!" The Commander salutes me.

"It's been a few years since I've last seen you, man!" I give the commander a friendly slap on the armored shoulder. "We'll have to catch up another time, we have Dominion to deal with."

"My last orders were to destroy an R&D site, we took the liberties of pilfering some schematics." he says with a grin.

"No way."

"Yes sir!" He pulls out a container, and within are a dozen or so data disks and petri disks. "This is everything from the site, blueprints, research notes, samples, the bigger stuff is outside."

"We'll have to find an egghead or two to make sense of all this." Mar Sara was a colony with a focus on farming, and Antiga Prime was a trade center… We may have to go to Deadman's Port to find someone.

"Warning, Dominion Dropships are touching down outside of artillery range." The Adjutant alerts us.

"Greg, I want you reinforcing the gate, the Dominion cannot have access to through this gate while we're still here."

"We'll hold the line." My friend nods.

"Take one of the vacant consoles to direct your forces while I direct the rest of the Armada from here."

"On it." Greg rushes to a console, and suddenly this is feeling more like a command center than it ever has before.

"Marauder here, it seems like the Zerg are moving the egg, they've noticed the Protoss blockade."

"Make them stop, if the egg leaves they'll have no reason to hold back."

"We'll handle it." Jessica offers.

"Incoming Scourge." Saura informs the captain.

"Shit! Recall all air superiority fighters and defend the battlecruisers!" Jessica barks.

"Engaging Yamato Cannon, going to wipe the hive out of existence." Jormandyr says, and I move the holo back to orbit. "Firing."

The largest Zerg bio-signature I've ever seen suddenly warps between the battlecruiser and the hive. "What the hell is that thing!?" The Marauder shouts as the Jormandyr discharges.

The Yamato cannon doesn't cut through the new bioform, but it slowly falls to the planet. "I think you killed it, Jormandyr." I congratulate the Battlecruiser, knowing full well that it can't hear me.

"Dominion ships are moving around the protoss fleet." The Marauder informs.

"Kare, what's your status?" I ask.

All I get in reply is static, hopefully we'll hear from them soon.

A series of explosions go off in the city. "What just happened?!" I demand.

"Several government buildings just went up in flames, it has to be the Dominion trying to wipe out anything we could find!" Saura exclaims.

"Isn't the Ghost Academy below ground?"

"No, it's hiding as one of the core buildings, it's still up but who knows for how long."

"Sir, my men have engaged Dominion armor!" Greg calls out.

"Are they making headway?" I turn my attention to the Commander.

"No sir, we've already deployed our anti armor, it'll take a lot more than a blitzkrieg to break us."

"Keep it up Greg, we won't be here for long."

"The Zerg have engaged the Protoss, Dominion forces are maneuvering around the confrontation."

"Refrain from using your Yamato Cannons, we can't afford having any of our ships stuck recharging, how's the Jormandyr faring?"

"It's still drifting, Behemoth Class ships take longer to recharge than Minotaur Class ones." Jessica notes.

"This is Kare, we need immediate extraction." Kare's voice suddenly crackles to life. "The Zerg are pouring into the Academy, we got what we needed and are ready to leave."

"Hold on-" I move the holo back to the city. "Okay Kare, I have a fix on your location, transports are inbound."

"We ran into what was left of a Black Ops unit, they've agreed to work with us in exchange for transport offworld."

"Excellent!" How can I say no to the Confederate's Special Forces? "Adjutant, I want a dozen transports enroute to the Agent's location, take them straight to the Jackson."

The command center lights flash red. "Warning, Nuclear launch detected." A large red X appears over the holo representation of the Command Center.

"Where's the nuke coming from!?" Greg shouts.

"Adjutant!"

"Nukes are enroute from silos located on Tarsonis, first missile ETA: one hour." The nukes start appearing on the sensors, flashing bright red. "Comsat station online, scans available."

The walls and gate to our west immediately rule it out, we have an active sensor net around it, so whoever it is, is painting the Command Center from inside the city.

I move to tap the hologram where there's a grouping of tall buildings, seems like the most likely location, but I have a gut feeling that he's in the nearby ruins. "Scan here." I tap the blast zone of one of the Yamato cannons, part of the wall is missing.

A tiny red dot appears, surrounded by many roaming purple ones. "Psionic signature detected in scan radius."

And then it runs. "We're too late, it has a fix on the Command Center." I say, and the Adjutant highlights the estimated blast radius of the first nuke, which easily covers the entire base.

"Can we move base and avoid it?" Greg asks.

"Don't look at me, I don't know how a nuke works!"

"Evacuate the area, we have what we came for." Saura chimes in.

"Get us the hell out of here!"

"Dropships enroute, have everything ready by the time they get there." Jessica says calmly.

"You heard the woman!" I bark at Greg.

It's pandemonium, communications are lit up like a christmas tree, a chorus of sergeants, engineers, and pilots talking over one another.

"Warning, connection lost to perimeter missile turrets, they have opened fire on the incoming transports."

The Ghost got em. "Shut down the sensor grid, without eyes they can't fire."

"But we won't be able to see either." Greg objects.

"I know that, but we need those transports!" I snap back, disconnecting the mobile adjutant from the command center. "And we're done, get us out of here commander!"

Greg grabs his rifle and we hurry out at a brisk pace. Wouldn't do any good to survive the nuke storm only to die of asthma.

"All aboard." Aaila says through the dropship's loudspeaker, dropping the vehicle bay ramp for my Goliath to enter. "Buckle up, be ready for some chop." Greg heads up to the infantry hold as more personal flood into the dropship.

The skyscrapers off in the distance explode in fiery fury, and collapse to the ground. "Ghost Academy destroyed." A new voice joyfully says on local coms.

"Thanks for the ride, Magistrate." Who I assume is the Black Ops Commander speaks up on the same channel.

"No one will be left for the Zerg, not again." I say solemnly. "Jackson, has the egg managed to get offworld?"

"We've lost visuals sir."

"Where did it go?"

"It disappeared when the massive zerg appeared."

That doesn't bode well. I plug the Adjutant into the Goliath. "Incoming transmission."

"You think you've won, but not only did we reclaim every nuke on this rock, but you've only taken the scraps we've left behind." Duke informs me.

I frown as shockwaves from the first nuke detonating resonates through the dropship. "Don't underestimate us, General, we took the Hyperion, we took Dylar, and soon enough we'll take Korhal as well, for everyone you've killed!" For Serah.

"Command center destroyed."

"You can't hide behind your protoss allies forever, you and your rebellion will crumble before the Dominion." Duke promises.

"I'm winning this war, Duke, for everyone you've killed playing with the Zerg." I vow. For Serah, Mengsk will pay.

"Transmission terminated." I close my eyes and take a breath.

"Is the Jormandyr still recharging?"

"No word from- Jormandyr! Status?" Saura changes attention from me to someone on another console.

"Magistrate, the Jormandyr's Warp Drive's still damaged… And the Dominion are warping out?"

"Dylar!" I can't help but exclaim.

"Do you think they'd immediately go there?" Jessica asks.

"I don't know, but we can't leave the Jormandyr alone or else the Zerg will swarm them, we wait here until it can warp." I say through grit teeth. Good luck Raynor.

Massive Props to I3lood_Knight for not only helping to write this, but also helping me to get back into writing again


End file.
